Severus Snape and the Phantom of the Dungeon
by WaterPh0enix
Summary: I know what you all thinking. Some sappy or cringe parody were Snape is that emo Opera Ghost and Lily is that singing girl, but no. This is a story about Severus as a child, first Hogwarts year, starting from the premise of him choosing to be a Gryffindor instead. I tried to write in in the same fun, yet dramatic and enchanting style JK used in her books.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter I

\- Gloomy Summers –

A river flowed slowly, perfectly matching the rhythm of the small town whose banks it was snaking and which could be seen in the distance drowned in a misty fog. That was Cokeworth, maybe not the best place for someone to take a summer break and not only had that to do with the lack of tourist attractions, but also with the monotony of people passing through narrow streets, hostilely holding their heads to the ground and bumping into each other occasionally, as they rushed to their even more tedious workplaces, although, usually, no one was actually rushing anywhere.

Among the dry weeds that grazed the shore, just as slowly stepped a tall, slim man wearing a long shirt with the sleeves pulled over his elbows. He had a carelessly shaved brown mustache, a hooked nose and some very unfriendly eyes. He was holding over his shoulder a wooden fishing rod that had been broken at some point because it was bandaged in a worn, but resistant duck-tape.

The man stopped when he reached a small hill and slid his hand to his forehead as he frowned at the huge chimney rising threateningly behind the river. The symphony of hammers, saws and tools used by the workers who were striving to surround the chimney into a true industrial fortress, could be heard in the distance. The man with the rod knew very well that a detergent factory would seriously affect the quality of water and the life of fish.

His frown intensified even more as he looked down the hill. He seemed ready to shout, but changed his mind and managed to keep his patience until a fragile, small and pale boy struggled to reach him, with his arms occupied by a large fishing net and a rusty box. An even greater challenge for him was trying not to slip as they went down the slope, afraid that the bait box might spill all over him again. Not that earthworms would have disgusted him in any way. He had grown accustomed to them, but clumsy hands were not something his father would have easily overlooked, and he wasn't naive enough to repeat the same mistake.

They had finally reached the edge of the water. The man left his fishing rod on the grass and straightened his back a little, investigating the undisturbed surface.

"Set the net." he murmured without turning to the boy.

But the boy followed his command immediately and plunged the net into the water while his father pressed the first worm into the hook. The child sat himself on the sun-burned grass and sighed helplessly with his dark eyes focused on his own impatient reflection.

His father owned a small fish store on the outskirts of the town and didn't took him along too often when fishing because he didn`t want, as he was saying, to have him stuck in his throat. But of all the days he could have decided to show his son the secrets of his job, he had chosen the one when the youngster had to arrive somewhere before noon.

The boy sighed some more at the trouts that were surrounding the net and were not leaving any evidence that they had ever been there excepting the little air circles that rose from the depths and extended on the glossy surface. This could have taken very well all day long...

He gave the fish an upset look, though he knew it was absurd to blame them for avoiding their categorical end. However, it seemed as he wanted the trouts to change their minds at least for this one occasion.

Just then, an entire flank of fish began to sail as if they were driven by the common belief that the entire net was made up of worms all knotted together and they clung to it without holding any resistance. The little boy did not seem surprised, as much as relieved by the sudden turn of events.

"Are these enough?" he said, pulling the heavy net through the grass.

"How did you ..." his father puzzled as he brought to the surface the third fish caught in his hook.

But his astonished expression turned into a merciless one in less than a second in which he seemed to weigh the matter.

He hastened towards the boy and grabbed him by his relatively long hair, snarling in his ear:

"You don`t come to me with these nonsense, boy... if I haven't made myself clear untill now, let this be my last warning. Understood?"

"Sure." said the boy who kept himself strangely calm, almost bored, as if he was completely used to the scenario.

"Good. Now get lost! " the man growled, pushing the child forward and causing him to fall to one side.

But he got back up again casually. Perhaps it did not happen as he had planned, but at least he was free not to delay where he truly wished himself to be. Though he took one last glance back, somewhat hurt.

His father was checking one of the fish from the net on all of its portions, maybe trying to find out the unusual mechanism that had made it such an easy prey. He turned the fish to the other end. The temptation was a little too much.

"Ah!" the fisherman said as the fish's tail slapped his face.

The boy let a tiny, satisfied smile escape the corner of his mouth and rushed his footsteps before Tobias Snape could realize what had actually happened.

The boy ran over meadows that surrounded the town, passing by a deserted playground whose swings were lightly creaking in the wind. He reached a small grove in the center of which was a thick oak made up of three thinner trunks entwined together.

For a moment he thought he got there too soon, but just then, a redheaded, freckled little girl jumped from behind the tree, causing him to flinch.

"Sev!"

"Oh, Lily ... You're here."

"Yes, and good you got here faster too. You know, I think Dad was right, it will surely start to rain soon, "Lily said, looking reproachfully at the gray clouds that were gradually conquering the washed blue of the sky." So we got to hurry! "

The little girl pulled out of one of the large pockets of her dots pattern dress, a piece of colored paper.

Sev approached her, reading the note in his mind:

_Maybe you think I'm cunning _

_But when winter is coming _

_To leave my house I should _

_For the children to bring food _

_But I'm still happy with what I got _

_I'm protected by my furry coat._

"Hm ... but it's quite obvious." Sev concluded rubbing his chin between his fingers.

"That's right. It's obviously ... Mum's wardrobe! "

"The spinney burrow !" spoke Sev at the same time "Wait ... what?"

"Ah, the burrow, well this makes more sense. You're always better than I am with the riddles. " Lily admitted.

"Only you are the best with the maps."

Lily smiled and started running.

"Quick, Sev! The rain! "

Yet the rain had not came in their way to the thick bushes, and the patch of cloudy sky was completely covered behind the high crowns of the trees.

The burrow they were talking about belonged to a fox that, during the previous winter, went out on the streets in search of food.

Lily was desperate to help, and alongside her father, Mr. Evans, they all went at first at the edge of the forest, leaving her some chicken or turkey sandwiches, then they dared to follow her deeper into the little wood and discovered that the fox was actually a caring mother bringing all the food to her three cubs. And, judging by the fact Mr. Evans was the one who organized their treasure hunts, the riddle was really not that difficult to solve.

"Oh, hi Nancy!" Lily greeted as she bent down to the burrow dug into the ground and covered in green moss and leaves.

The fox approached her unsecured and accepted Lily to touch her muzzle. But when the little girl reached for the cubs, the three younger foxes crouched in a corner.

Lily sighed defeated. Sev, who was waiting outside, shook his head amused. Lily had been trying to make friends with them from the start. She even gave them proper names even though Sev had no idea how could she make the difference and always be able to tell which one of them was Ralph.

"I still think we're making progress!" Lily informed him, her head still hidden in the darkness of the hole.

When she came out she was holding a small wooden chest from which Sev extracted a map of the river and its surroundings drawn in a coloring crayon.

"Lily, will you do the honors?" he asked cheerfully, handing it back to her.

"With pleasure!" said Lily, doing a theatrical bow.

Just a few minutes later, Sev returned to the bank of the river, but following Lily closely and prepared to warn her in case of hitting a tree since the little girl had her head hidden behind the map that was captivating her completely.

"And one ... two ... three more steps left after the anthill and... aha!"

In front of them laid an old shopping cart stuck in a branch that went down to the edge of the river. Lily dropped her sandals, turn her dress up to her knees and stepped into the shallow water.

Sev, who was wearing shoes a bit too big for the size of his feet, followed her actions. Inside the cart was a teddy bear with numerous stitches and a big patch on its belly.

"Mister Picklie Wink? How did you get in here? " asked Lily her oldest toy ever.

She picked Mister Picklie Wink and shook him slightly checking if her father hadn't hidden the next clue in his padding.

"Lily, wait. What if he is the actual clue? " suggested Sev.

Lily looked at the teddy bear confused for a moment, but then a gleam of clarity seemed to light up her intense green eyes.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked mysteriously.

"The Witch's Hut!" they both said, this time in sync.

The Witch's Hut was, in fact, a small group of ruins, rumored to have had once belonged to the stone house of a lonely and unfriendly old woman who had chosen to isolate herself in the middle of the woods when their little town was nothing more than a fair. It was said that the woman in question had been the author of some really strange events because several people had confessed hearing stifling explosions followed by clouds of smoke in every imaginable color rising from the cottage's chimney and covering the whole forest. Even the wild animals were keeping themselves away from the old woman's home. So it was that in case of any minor or major disaster happening in the fair, the people were hurrying to blame the one baptized by them, The Cursed Crone. Although she hadn't even been at the same spot when, for instance, the wheels of the wood wagon had given up and all the wheat had been spilled into the river.

Even though Sev was skeptical about bigger part of that story, he and Lily had a very good reason to believe that where today laid broken pieces of walls and moldy, almost disintegrated planks, once did indeed live a real witch.

Anyhoo, when Lily was younger she used to play pretend she was an explorer among those ruins. Mr. Picklie Wink was her assistant, and one night, she forgot him there. Not wanting at any cost to sleep without him, Mr. Evans was forced to go searching for him with a lantern through the woods. Sev and Lily didn't know each other back then, but the girl had told him the anecdote so many times that he was feeling like he lived it in Mr. Evans's place.

"We did it, Sev! We found the treasure!"

The treasure proved to consist in a generous tray of cupcakes decorated in purple frosting with star-shaped decorations, placed on the remains of what had once been an integral stone table.

Sev was disappointed. Not because he didn't consider Mr. Evans' cupcakes a worthwhile prize - their clues searches were always ending with appetizing snacks, but he had hoped the treasure hunt would take a little longer before he had to return home.

Lily was right about the rain coming. She hadn't even finished her first cupcake before a tiny drop of water touched her tiny freckled nose.

"Save the cupcakes!" she shouted, holding the round tray in front of her as she ran where a door had once been.

Sev followed her quickly.

"I don't think we can get home until it gets worse!" Lily said.

"That's fine. Maybe we can find a temporary shelter. "

"Hey, yes ..." Lily realized seeming to radiate enthusiasm instead of being affected by the water drops that were getting bigger and bigger, "Do you think Nancy takes us in until it's over?"

Sev was not that sure about the fox's position on hosting some wet and self-invited guests, but her burrow was, in fact, the closest to the Witch's Hut.

And so it was made that in less than five minutes, he was crouching under the ground next to Lily, who was trying to lure a fox cub with half of a cupcake.

"Give up, Lily. Maybe Ralph is on a diet. "

"Yes, yes, very funny Sev." Lily said, not very upset, "And just so that you know ... this is Dave!"

Dave smelled the wrapping paper of the cupcake while Lily was not paying attention to him, then cringed uninterested next to his two brothers who were wrapped in their mother's protective fluffy tail. Sev thought they were some very lucky little guys, and not just because their red fur blanket was shielding them from the cold breeze slightly coming in from outside as the rain was intensifying.

"Listen. Sev? Do wizards make cupcakes too? " Lily asked after a while.

"Lily, I told you ..." snorted Sev "Cupcakes, apple pies, cherrie tarts ... I suspect there are things the entire human race has in common." he continued, studying the sticky paper wrap left in his hand.

"Then I have another good reason to hurry packing up my bags!" Lily said excitedly.

"Oh, we still have time. Our letters haven't even arrived yet. " said Sev relaxed, resting his back on the spherically dug surface.

Only instead, the mention of the letters caused Lily to agitate anxiously as she slightly clashed the cupcake tray putted between them.

"So are you really sure it's coming? I mean, you sure are, but with me is different ... Are you really sure that I ... I mean ... "

"Lily, I'm a hundred percent convinced of your magical powers." said Sev categorically.

Lily was special, and he knew it, he knew it from the very start, from the first day when, following her from the distance, he had found the first child in Cokeworth with whom he had something in common - they were wizards! Their destiny was not narrowed by the limits those without magic were sometimes creating even for themselves, and they had a new world to discover together. But unfortunately, whenever Lily did something remarkable, something she couldn't explain herself, such as flying from a swing or changing the color of a scarf when she decided that purple didn't suit her and that green was highlighting her eyes better, her doubt that her imagination wasn't just messing around with her, was not completely erased, and the reason was a simple one.

"Just don't pay her any mind, okay? She's trying to discourage you. That's what Muggles do. "

"Oh, come on, Sev, that word is't very nice, even though I'm not sure Tuney knows exactly what it means ..." Lily said thoughtfully.

Tuney, meaning Petunia, was Lily's two years older sister. There was nothing magical about her, not even her younger sister's lust for life. All Petunia did was binding the smallest things about someone and turn them into insults or gossip. But even though she had repeatedly disagreed about Lily's abnormality, Sev suspected that Petunia Evans was, in fact, green with envy about the talent she didn't inherited as well. In fact, on one way or another, this talent may not have been inherited at all. None of Lily's relatives possessed any magical abilities, meaning they were what all wizards and witches called Muggles, well, except those in the United States.

"Then what do you say about No-Majes?" he suggested.

"Hm ..." Lily concentrated "Okay, that sounds better." she accepted, regaining her smile.

When the rain stopped, Lily stepped into the muddy ground of the burrow's entrance with the air of a prisoner who had just been released after decades of bondage. The first thing she did, as always, was to lift her chin in search of a rainbow.

"I think you have a better chance finding a lightning bolt," said Sev, placing the tray containing the six left cupcakes on the nearest tree log and while looking at the heavy, thick clouds.

"Then we're in luck I brought these," Lily said, removing two paper bags from one of her pockets "Let's share what's left!"

"Okay, but what about the tray?"

"What about it?"

"Seriously? Sometimes I wonder which one of us went to Mugg ... uh, the No-Majes school. Metal attracts electricity. It's dangerous to have it at such time with you." Sev said with a concern in his voice that nullified the mild criticism of the remark.

"Calm, Sev. You have to look at the bright side, if the rain starts again I can take cover under it. "

"Lily, were you even listening at what I just told you?" asked Sev, upset and panicked at the same time.

Lily chuckled.

"I know. I was just playing with you a little. "

"Yes, very funny, what can I say..." said Sev, crossing his arms angrily, but not for long. "Just look after yourself, okay?"

"You too." Lily said with a crystalline smile, giving him one of the paper bags with wet spots from the frosting on it.

They said goodbye, promising to meet again the next day, which lifted a bit the dry feeling Sev kept about returning home.

Sev walked along the rusty parapet that separated him from the river bank and then made a turn to a narrow, cobbled street. He had learned since he was small that the best technique of survival here was avoiding any visual contact with the poorly disposed passersby, and therefore, bending his head to the ground. Of course, it couldn't be said it was a flawless maneuver.

"Watch where you're going, kid!" shouted an old woman with a fuzzy beret when he hit one of her bags that seemed to be filled with cans because the impact did not affect her alone.

"Ouch! Uh ... sorry. "

The old woman fixed her discolored scarf on her neck, then carried on her path with the heavy weight pulling her back a little, but no one beside whom she was passing seemed to notice her, even less to be willing to help, not even the massive man wearing a jumpsuit, who was opening a sewer's cover plate.

"The rain is sinking us again." he murmured under his breath as he bent over the hole in the pavement.

Sev crept through tall but tight brick houses that all looked pretty much the same excepting the fact the most economical inhabitants kept their lights off, even with the humid clouds creating a late evening effect.

The street lamps placed on the sidewalks also saved money. Most of them never worked very well anyway.

He turned left towards Spinners End, a street that, as the name suggested, was a total dump. He stopped in front of the last in the row of houses. The door was not locked. The risk of the thieves was quite low in the area because nothing was attractive at all, not even for them.

He entered directly into a cramped living room where he could distinguish the brown hair of his father behind the back of the worn armchair in which he was reading his newspaper. Although he flinched a little into his sit when he heard the creaking door closing, the man seemed to adopt the treatment of silence, vigorously turning the page to the next article, pretending he heard nothing.

Sev decided to play his game and went unnoticed into the kitchen. Dirty dishes were waiting to be washed in an old, chipped, ceramic sink. A basket full of stinky fish was sitting on the damp floor next to an unstable closet with shelves filled with jars. But when Sev approached it, he did not intend to get a juicy cucumber or pepper. He moved a large jar, making room for a small, dirty one, with its content unable to be seen. He took the tiny jar out and began to rotated its lid five times clockwise, twice counterclockwise and four more as the first ones. The shelf closet moved to the left, colliding the fish basket a bit, but without producing any other noise. A hole in the wall opened leading the boy to a set of stairs to a storage room.

The storage room was full of old, dusty things, including the remains of a wooden table, several broken fishing rods, rusty and incomplete tool kits, crates containing miserable bottles sometimes used to collect broth, and the deflated wheels of a bicycle. On one of the walls was hanging the broken glass framed portrait of a thin, young girl wearing a uniform and below whom it was written in small, golden letters, _Eileen Prince, Captain of the Gobstones Team_. Sev stretched to the photograph on some wooden crates, took it out from its nail and drew the letter P with his finger in the middle of the square of dust-free wall formed in the hollow of the frame. The bricks backed away in favor of a new hidden entrance. Sev carefully put the portrait back into its place and took a big step forward before the bricks settled themselves back to normal behind him.

He found himself in a room that looked at least strange compared to the rest of the house. It resembled a laboratory with stone furniture - three tables placed perpendicular to each other and which were practically fencing the room. Cauldrons of all sizes, knives, tweezers, mortars, scales and an old microscope were piled up all over them. Several shelves with display cases were suspended on the walls and hosting bottles of various shapes and empty vials, clean till shine. On the more simple, but resistant shelves stood jars that witch, unlike the ones in the kitchen, contained substances in much more unusual colors, some even phosphorescent or appearing to be foaming, others gelatinous or filled with plants kept alive in greenish liquids, or strange animal-origin components such as giant bulged eyes, long claws, pieces of fur or feathers.

At the farthest table could be seen the back of a supple woman with black and greasy hair kept in a untidy bun. She was mixing fast in a silver cauldron.

"Hi, mum." Sev said quietly enough not to spoil her concentration, but loud enough to be heard.

His mother turned surprised at him. She had a very weird appearance as she was wearing a floral-patterned kitchen apron, leather gloves and big protection goggles that made her black eyes look like those in the jar.

"Ah, Severus, it's you." she said in a neutral voice, returning urgently to the her mix.

Still, Severus approached her. In the platinum cauldron, a thick, pinkish liquid was bubbling.

"Want a cupcake?" he offered, despite knowing full well that food should not be taken out of bags in such an environment.

"Hm, cupcakes you say ... what do they contain?" the woman asked without turning her attention away from her work.

"Uh, well I'm pretty sure it's vanilla, but ..."

"Ah, vanilla!" she interrupted him. "Good thing you reminded me, I ran out of vanilla blossoms! They are basic ingredients in ... "

" The Strenght Potion, Memory Elixir, Invisibility Draught and the Manegro Potion, I know." listed Severus.

"And do not forget the Laughing Potion, although it seems to me a very ..."

"Useless one ..." Severus continued her sentence dully.

"Yes." the mother approved, finally stopping from spinning the cauldron's contents. "Well, I'd better go back to work. It's almost time for dinner. " she said, glancing at the cuckoo clock that seemed very unfitting in the cavernous background of the potions lab, and was sitting behind a pile of old books wrapped in black or brown leather.

"Well perhaps I could help you finish faster." Severus suggested as his mother went to the ingredients shelves.

She didn't seem to have heard him, and so he tried again.

"What is this? Another Anti-Cough Potion?" he thought, judging by the hue and thickness of the mixture.

"Close enough." seemed the mother suddenly more interested in the topic of the conversation.

"The Revive Potion. Although the confusion is understandable, I have yet to add the Triton scales."

The potion maker re-approached the table, sprinkling some crumbly scales from a former salt container. The pink quickly turned into bloody red.

"And this should be enough." Severus' mother said, dividing the elixir into three hourglass-shaped bottles she placed in a locked cupboard containing the recipients of many other finished potions.

Most of them were healing serums, though Severus didn't know if it was worth thinking about his mother considering potentially preventive a reviving from coma potion.

Suddenly, a small crow that looked scary realistic came out of the clock with a high-pitched croaking: "Tobby is approaching the kitchen, I repeat, Tobby is approaching the kitchen!"

"Great, what does he want now?" asked the mother ostentatiously, removing a thin piece of wood from the front pocket of her apron.

She whistled the air with her wand making to appear a floating tray of trout cooked in tomato sauce. Then she turned once on her heels and in a fraction of a second, disappeared without a trace, with the tray.

Severus sighed. Maybe some parents were arguing because they didn't like each other's hobbies, like fixing for fun their friends' cars or always keeping their reading club in the living room, but his did not agree because one had magical occupations, and the other had difficulty accepting even the degree of truth of the news in which it was stated that a puppy had saved a man from the fire or that someone invented sneakers with arches that could jump up to five feet, in other words, whatever seemed strange to him and which he had never heard of before. And yet, his mother had chosen Tobias Snape as her husband. Severus had never understood what she saw in him. They didn't even have much in common, unless you took into account the fact that they were both trying to sweep Severus out of their way.

He surrounded with his eyes the deserted laboratory that his mother kept secret using so many protocols. Sometimes he wondered how she managed to arrange it without his father noticing. All he knew was that the most prudent thing to do was never to bring up magic into the house. Maybe that's why he liked spending time in Lily's company so much. She loved hearing him talk about magic. It was a nice contrast.

And yet he began to retrospect the fish incident from the morning. He could swear he was hearing his parents' tireless arguments and counterarguments above him, and he could easily guess what the controversial and debated topic was, as usual - him. Maybe in a way it was better like this. At least it was a slightly more relevant discussion. The other day they had been screaming at each other because his mother hadn't looked very well on the mustard label and had bought an extra spicy one from the store. Yes, clearly the wisest thing to do was to slip unobserved into his bedroom.

Avoiding the kitchen, he took some steep stairs. His room was on the mansard. It was not spacious at all, and the sloping roof caused an even stronger cloister feeling. Like his mother's lab, the room was fenced, but with shelves crammed with dozens of old books. Some were scattered on the floor or on the small desk in front of the window that was integrated into the ceiling, also filled with crumpled paper sheets, graphical pencils, a few writing feathers, and a small, unsupported telescope.

Among the books were interesting titles such as **_Jinxes for the Jinxed_**_, _**_Basic Hexes for the Busy and the Vexed_**,**_Curses and Counter-Curses_**_, _**_Secrets of the Dark Arts_**_,_**_The Imperius Curse and How to Abuse it _**or **_Unforgivable Curses and their Legal Implications_**. All the volumes had once belonged to his mother. She had helped him complete his own collection however, because she wanted to create him an idea about the magical world in which he had not grown, but where he would have to live. In her opinion, it was a more dangerous world than Severus could have ever imagined. But Severus would have given up anytime the safe and predictable life of the Muggle World for the exciting and risky one of the wizards.

Severus could have counted on the fingers of one hand the times his father had visited his room, but in case he would had done so, in his Muggle eyes, the titles would have switched into mathematics or biology textbooks and common fairy tales for children's lecture.

Under aged sorcerers were not allowed to do magic spell outside of their schools, but, by simply reading about them, Severus could barely wait to try the memorized incantations with a wand in his hand. His mother came from a very old magus family who did not shy away from dark magic even though it was viewed with suspicion and detested by many wizards who considered it dangerous or downright evil. But his mother thought it appropriate to also give him her curses books so that her son would know what to expect. Severus was in perfect agreement. After all, what better way to defend yourself against dark magic than to know how to control it? In fact, maybe the same thing applied to everything else in life. He thought about this for a long time sitting at his desk and looking through the glass at the drops of rain that were hitting his window. If he could have controlled the rain, just as he had controlled the school of fish, then he might still have been with Lily, playing around the creek.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

\- Striked Turns and Striped Cats –

A/N: I just wanted to apologize for the little writing errors I let slip in my previous chapter, but I got so excited to post something for the first time on this site, to see how it works, that I didn't checked it twice until it was too late. And the thing is, this Fanfiction was originally written in my homeland language (Yeah, I come from Transylvania, but don't worry, there's no vampire plot twist, I swear). We use a lot of old worlds, weird expressions and plenty of synonyms to explain very simple things or actions, but this is sometimes how Latin languages go, really. Anyway, this means that I already have the full fiction done, already know what's gonna happen, but it takes me a while to translate it. I'll try to get one chapter done each week, but I can't promise it. Just in case you were wondering, there is a total of 20 chapters, the shortest one is about 4k words long, the longest almost 8k. Chapter 2 is honestly my favorite one of all. It was the most fun to write. The first 3 chapters have actually been added to the story after I got almost to the climax and I realized it didn't really had o proper introduction. So you may notice a slight difference between the writing style used in these, and the one in Chapter 4.

I hope you all enjoy, since I already have lots of ideas for the sequel.

* * *

The next day remained soaked in fog.

Severus had hunted a solitary ray of sunlight that managed to slip through the window above his desk. He settled at the table with the intention of composing his own spell incantations in a notebook that was already filled with such attempts, but had ended up sketching the outline of some foxes - one larger, three smaller. His mind was not at all with him in the narrow mansard bedroom, but Lily had suggested they meet at noon and it was barely nine in the morning.

He meditated not very concentrated on which animal should he draw next when the answer practically entered his window. There were impatient knocks in the glass, and Severus looked up to see a reddish-brown owl.

He did not hesitate and opened the window immediately. He had been dreaming about this moment for a long time. The owl plunged through the window's frame and landed on the desk causing papers to fly in all directions. It raised its left foot gracefully, showing an envelope made from a thick material. Severus untied it with very shaky hands. On the back the envelope he had his name and address written elegantly in ink, and on the front, it was sealed with the wax inscription of an emblem - a lion, bird, badger and snake surrounding together the letter H.

The owl's howling helped get his feet back on the ground. The strigiform bird lifted expectantly its other leg. Severus had heard that owls were always waiting for their payment, but, unlike newspapers and subscription magazines, the letters were technically for free. He offered it then a few homemade biscuits, the remains of a small, fast breakfast, abandoned in a saucer in a corner of the desk. The owl picked them from the palm of his hand, whistling contentedly and flew away through where it had entered.

Severus knew that the arrival of the letter was offering him the ideal excuse to see Lily earlier. He didn't even open it, but took it along, jumping two steps at once to the living room. Though he stopped still at the end of the stairs.

On the couch stood an aged woman with a sharp appearance and an even sharper hat that was imposing like a wooden spike. She was mingling in a discussion with his mother who seemed agitated, sprinkling on the sides of the coffee mug she was holding.

"Ah, Severus. You woke up." his mother observed his presence, "I introduce you Professor McGonagall. I don't know if I've ever told you before. She taught me, and still teaches, Transfiguration at Hogwarts."

Severus had no idea about the good manner ethics in front of a member of the Wizarding World, especially one with an intellectual distinction. Would a "_It's a pleasure to meet you"_ have been enough? Should he have done a bow?

Eventually he ended up staying dumb like a goldfish and involuntarily rubbing his shoulder against the stairs railing.

"Hmm, he resembles you precisely, Eileen," said Professor McGonagall, analyzing mostly his raven hair and eyes, "You were also letting your thoughts define you before your words."

Eileen seemed to take her remark as a praise for what was probably something rarely offered by the teacher who tactically sipped from her coffee before adding:

"I see your letter has reached you also."

"Uh, Professor McGonagall went to the Evans family to clarify their situation as well." Severus' mother explained.

"And since I was in the area, I thought I'd check how things go in here." McGonagall added, seating her cup on the coffee table, "You and Miss Evans must be the only wizard children within a radius of about sixty miles."

Severus noticed that while the teacher was paying attention to him, his mother was casting anxious glances at the front door. Indeed, his father did not like strangers in the house, especially one dressed up as on Halloween Night. Fortunately, he was always returning from fishing only after noon. Severus had anyway other priorities in his head.

"You handed Lily her letter personally?" Oh, how did she react? I bet she was ... know what? Better not tell me. I think I want to find out myself!"

Professor McGonagall seemed unprepared for this sudden verbal outburst and glanced questioningly at Eileen as Severus rushed away, perceiving over his shoulder, his mother saying something sounding like: _Ah, children..._

Severus wasn't exactly the sports type, but he surprised himself by how quickly he reached the Azami Alley, which, although part of the same grumpy town, had a much more caring and exciting look. The houses were small, but clad in vivid colors as fresh and pure as the white of the low fences that were bordering them and their immaculate lawns. Most of the walls were surrounded by layers of flowers that reached their pods up to the windows which also had their sills decorated with rectangular pots in which the begonias and azaleas were resting without a care in the world.

But the house in front of which he stopped had by far the largest variety of flowers. Next to the varnished mailbox was a garden that from a plane could have been mistaken for a flat rainbow. The bees were humming happily over the layers of tulips and velvety dahlias that were perfectly camouflaging the spectral and equally longing butterflies.

Severus did not orient to the three low steps from the house's entrance, on which a set of milk bottles had been delivered, but circled the flower garden until he reached the back yard. There was a thick oak. Among the leaves with wilted tips, stood the polished planks of a small tree house with petal-shaped shutters and a roof with slightly peeled paint.

He climbed a rope ladder to the small door that had a bicycle trumpet horn tied above its knob. He squeezes it in his hand causing a shrill quack. Lily was just behind the door. She pulled him in without any warning. She had an even wider smile than usual, between her rosy cheeks.

"Sev! You were right! You were really right! "

"See? I told you that ... "

"Look!" Lily cut him almost sticking a sheet of parchment to his face.

Lily's tree house, or as she called it since a few months by now, the Wiz Club, was cramped, but very comfortable since the floor was brimful with big pillows, a variety of stuffed animals and generous piles of comic books.

"Dear Miss Evans, we are pleased to announce that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry..." Lily rereaded her letter as she was crossing the little house in circles and while Severus was listening quietly sitting on one of the pillows and serving some apple juice from the juicebox reserve stored in the former nightstand under the tiny window.

"With special consideration, Minerva McGonagall. Deputy Director."concluded Lily the paragraph, "Uh! She was that interesting dressed lady, wasn't she?"

"Yes she's the one." Severus said calmly, handing Lily a box of grape juice - her favorite aroma - considering that the little girl needed something to hydrate her throat after talking by herself for almost the last fifteen minutes.

Lily accepted and kneel down, undoing the straw from the back of the box.

"I suppose Petunia didn't exactly agree with her wardrobe decisions." couldn't Severus help but imagine, peering through the Club's window the drawn curtains from Lily's sister's up-floor room.

But neither did Lily control her chuckle when she said:

"She barricaded herself in her room as soon as the professor entered the door. I think Tuney is exaggerating, she didn't seem so intimidating."

"Maybe she was just afraid not to be turned into a scabby frog."

"Wait. Can she do that?" Lily asked with a note of concern.

"Well, technically speaking, yes. After all, she's a Transfiguration teacher. But there is a very tough legislation on the usage of magic against Muggles."

"Guess it makes sense..." said Lily, looking regretfully at the censoring curtains of her sister's bedroom window.

Along with the letters, each of them had been given a list with the uniforms pieces, equipment and manuals they would need for classes.

"I mean, I could probably use the set of glass phials I had at Chemistry, I think Dad has a telescope in the attic... But a pewter cauldron, a magic wand? And look at all these titles!"

"Don't worry about it. You will find everything you need on Diagon Alley." Severus assured her while reading his own copy of the school items list.

"Oh yes. That McGonagall lady explained Mom and Dad how to get there. What did she say? London, Charing Cross Road, the Stinky Cauldron? "

"Leaky." corrected Severus "But yes. And did she tell them in which bricks to knock to open the entrance in the wall?"

"Yes, but I kinda forgot. She said we can ask the guy at the bar if we have any difficulties. So do tell, is that some kind of magi's mall?" Lily asked, looking eager to hear a yes.

"Kind of. I've only been twice with my mother so far, but I think you'll like it. It will be your first real perspective on the Wizarding World."

"Uhhh! You're telling me? I can't wait!" Lily jumped up with joy, shuddering the stuffed kangaroo from behind her.

* * *

"Get up already, Severus! I told you we were waking early! "

Severus was aroused by his mother's loud shout. His vision was still blurred from sleep, so he couldn't say for sure if she was waking him up from the ground floor or if she was in the bedroom with him, but when he rubbed his eyes regaining their clarity, he could hear her hasty footsteps marching impatiently behind the door.

He sighed realizing that the whole room was submerged in half-darkness, thinking that not even the roosters in their beekeeper neighbor's yard from across the road were up at that time. But he knew his mother hated crowds and was always hoping that the early hours were the most deserted. To be fair, he hated people piles too, but he would have liked to know the end of the dream in which Lily discovered a flying carpet and decided to invite Petunia for a ride, which, despite her abnormally long neck, was completely terrified of heights.

He groped on his nightstand searching for the equipment list for Hogwarts.

When he went down to the living room he was approached by something wide and black that flew at him in speed, covering his head.

"Put this on. It's getting cold outside!"

Severus picked up the shabby coat from his face, noticing that his mother was already waiting in front of the fireplace, wearing a long cape, but grayish and decorations-less enough to blend in perfectly with Muggles clothes.

An intentional, thick cough made him realize that there was a third person in the room. His father treated them with his back again, from his favorite armchair while eating his classical breakfast consisting in slices of toast with perch liver pate.

"So once again you think you are too good to drive like normal people, and only good enough for your magic dust?"

"Powder, Toby." Severus' mother said without paying her husband too much attention, "And just last week you were complaining that the exhaust steam is killing your fish."

Toby snorted angrily and leaned deeper into the back of his sit, but apparently shut in retorts.

The mother pressed her lips together proud of her morning victory and handed her son a fistful of green powder from a canvas pouch .

"You know what you have to do?"

"Yes, yes, loud and clear." Severus said before clearing his throat and bending into the narrow perimeter of the fireplace, "Diagon Alley." he said, sharply emphasizing each letter and throwing the powder into the cold ash.

He was suddenly engulfed in green flames, but he felt nothing warmer than the coat imposed by his mother made him already feel. Soon, he found himself in a fireplace where he no longer had to bend. Although he had only traveled once before through the wizardly transport channel, the Floo Network, he tried to appear as familiar with it as possible, shaking the ashes from his hair and taking the first step into the apothecary where he had landed. It had been his mother's choice to connect her fireplace to the store she frequented the most. It wasn't very spacious, but it was an immaculate place, just like the bottles on the shelves that all had descriptive labels such as: "_Mandrake Beans - They get you rid of Griffon's Cough in less than a minute"_ or "_Bunyip Corn Essence Syrup - Four of Five healers confirm it fully heals Dragon Spew. Adverse effects may include furry feet, decreased ears, or fire breath."_

The sound of creaking fire was heard once again, and Severus' mother got out almost without any trace of grime, stepping on the even cleaner floor like someone who did this daily.

"Ah, Mrs. Snape. I should have expected. Did you came for this year's newest crop of Buzz Berries?" recognized her most loyal client a stumpy and weighty lady with the soft face features of a little girl and a voice suited for a nurse from a primary school.

She was hard to be seen behind the counter, but she came out into the open to present a massive, transparent glass cylinder that rose directly from the floor and didn't stop till the ceiling, so that a lot of tiny fruits, slightly larger than the blueberries and of a much lighter blue, were floating like fireflies caught in a jar, colliding each other from time to time. On the tube it was written in bold and obvious letters: CAUTION! POISONOUS PRODUCT IF NOT PROPERLY ADDED IN ELIXIRS AND BOILED.

"I have to admit. Not many dare buying such thing." said the apothecar, resting her palm against the glass the Buzz Berries were hitting, as if she was trying to prove she did not count in that majority.

"Tempting, Mrs. Gordiancord. But the time doesn't afford me right now. I have something to solve first." said Mrs. Snape, looking down at Severus.

"Ah, yes, yes." seemed to notice on the moment Mrs. Gordiancord Severus' presence, although she was not at all taller than him, "We're approaching the term, aren't we? Although it's harder to see it from here. Medications aren't exactly on the Hogwarts list. Although maybe they should be."

Severus's mother nodded approvingly and firmly.

"I have only about ten galleons and a few knuts left since I got that ultra-steamy-resistant cauldron." she explained a little later while they were walking between shops, handing Severus a small bag full of coins, "We'll have to make a stop at Gringots."

Severus didn't like the idea of visiting the sorcerer's bank of the United Kingdom. On one hand, kids, in general, were not exactly eager for such official buildings and second of all, it was operated by goblins, creatures compared to whom even the residents of Cokeworth seemed zealous party planners who never got angry. But they had no choice. His mother had inherited a nice part of her family's wealth, which, being one of the oldest witchcraft families established in England, had its vaults hidden deep beneath the ground. Those could be reached by a wagon descending a slope driven by an old and impulsive goblin. It resembled in many ways a roller coaster, but a very steep one that made Severus fell as if his stomach turned backwards.

Passing through stalls selling perfumes guaranteed to induce ideal dreams or the instant attraction of the desired person, his mother stranged her nose and not only because of the unpleasant mixture of essences. As a Filters and Elixirs expert, she doubted the efficiency degree of those beautifully packaged products, but with a price a little too promotional.

The pungent odor had not left Severus's nasal cavity when a white, imposing building with huge bronze doors appeared in front of him, fronted by a guardian, a goblin-guardian who had not bothered to hide his huge hands and feet, though the rest of his body was covered in a pompous uniform with golden details. Severus tried not to stare at him so that he didn't came across as impolite, but he was convinced the goblin was watching their every move.

"Daphne, my dear, did you understand anything from what he told you?" they heard the frustrated voice of a man coming out the bronze doors, followed closely by a woman.

He had fire-red hair and a beautifully contoured face. He was perfectly shaved and wore an elegant suit, though old-fashioned, with a strident bow-tie, but which matched wonderfully his emerald eyes and nose freckles. The woman he was addressing to was small, thin and had washed-blonde hair. She was wearing a dress sprinkled in floral patterns all over expecting her collar and the big bow tying her waist. Following her was a tall young girl running down the building's stairs. She had inherited the discolored hue of her mother's hair and eyes. And right after her ...

"Lily?" asked Severus incredulously.

"Tuney? Tuney, wait!" said Lily running down the marble stairs after her sister, "They really weren't that bad!"

"Not that bad?" Petunia stopped on the last step, turning to Lily with a disgusted face, "Didn't you see the wart on his nose? And how he reacted to Dad?"

"Okay, that wasn't very nice of him, but I'm sure ..."

"I must have said something that disturbed him." Mr. Evans continued Lily's statement, leaning peacefully toward the two daughters and placing one of his arm on each of their shoulders.

But Petunia hitched away from them and walked over to Mrs. Evans, saying in a whiny voice:

"Can we go home now?"

"Sev!" Lily noticed jumping at him and hugging him briefly.

"Great ... The only thing that was missing ..." sighed Petunia crossing her arms.

Severus' mother seemed to share her feelings but she was more subtle, contenting herself with frowning her eyebrows at the family that was blocking her direct access to Gringotts' entrance.

"Ah, Eileen dear, what a pleasure to see you!" Mrs. Evans spoke in a syrupy tone that was hard to tell whether it was false or sincere.

Eileen replied with a slight nod. Mrs. Evans had tried countless times to invite her over to a cup of coffee with Mr. Evans's famous homemade cookies, but she had refused almost every time convinced that Lily's mother was trying nothing more than to ease her curiosity about the magical world.

"What a luck on us you appeared!" said Mr. Evans in a categorically not false tone, tapping Severus on the shoulder in greeting.

"Yes, luck indeed ..." Petunia murmured between her clenched teeth.

"We don't seem to manage getting along with the gentlemen from the register. We need to exchange some pounds in, well... the official currency here, but we don't know exactly what the numerical transaction is and I'm afraid ... nor how to properly address to them." explained Mr Evans rubbing embarrassed the back of his neck.

"Ah, yes ... And the luck in this situation includes the fact I know how ..." said Severus' mother tiredly.

She added nothing else, but resigned herself to the doors, probably expecting everyone else to follow her.

"Oh, no, no! I'm not going there again not even if you tie me up and carry me with you!" Petunia complained.

Severus didn't find it such an unorthodox method.

"Tuney!" Mrs. Evans said aloud.

"Uh, it's okay, Mommy. I can stay with her until you're done." Lily suggested, taking her sister by her arm, but whom withdrew it at once.

"But it could take a while. I think the line has been re-formed." Mr. Evans said watching the door slamming behind a fat and hasty wizard.

"I could stay with them if it helps." Severus hurried to say, who, despite his resentment towards her, would have liked to step in the building about as much as Petunia.

"WHAT?" said Petunia scandalized.

"An excellent idea, Severus my boy!" Mr. Evans approved instead, "Uh, that is if you agree, of course, Eileen."

"Yes, well, why not. Just don't talk to strangers and don't enter Knockturn Alley all by yourself." Eileen said without turning away from the bronze doors she opened without anymore hesitation.

"Oh, yes, we're right behind you!" Mr. Evans told her, then he turned back to the kids, "Listen to Severus, okay?"

"WHAT?" Petunia said even more outraged.

But all three parents had already entered the bank.

"What's Knockturn Alley?" Lily asked, seeing themselves on their own.

"Oh, it's ... kind of like those dangerous neighborhoods in big cities. You know, rats, suspicious guys... "

"And obviously you know all there is about these sort of things." Petunia joined them sourly.

"You know, yes." Severus said defiantly, "Despite the appearances, there are some interesting things out there, if you know how and where to get them."

They started moving and Petunia, preoccupied to frowny watch them one by one, stepped with her ballerina shoe into a puddle.

"Of course, I wouldn't expect you to survive in there more than... let's say three, maybe four minutes." Severus said, turning to her.

"Uh, hey, Sev, what's up with those broomsticks in that window display?" said Lily as loud as she could, trying to prevent Petunia's verbal return.

Lily was pointing at a shop with a wooden board attached, on which it was written _Quality Quidditch Reserves._

"Ah, yeah, flying brooms ..." Severus said in a tone that was showing he did not intend to go in there.

Petunia seemed to agree.

"Brooms, you mean like on those witches in coloring books? Is that really what you want to become, Lily? With a wart on the nose? "

"Ugh! But what's your problem with warts on the nose, anyway?" snorted Lily.

"Uh, why don't we better go in there?" this time was Severus who tried to distract them from quarrel, pointing at a dark looking shop.

The windows were singing and there was a hard to define uproar coming from inside, like an unusual mix of wild noises.

"Uhh! A Pet Shop!" exclaimed Lily passionately.

"What? No! I'm not going in there! "

"Well, we two are. And you better do as I say, isn't that what your father wanted?" Severus pleaded, coming closer to Lily, who was already in front of a window displaying the ad: _Dragonfly Iguanas. Only this week, half of price!_

"He definitely had no idea what he was talking about! It's not fair! I should be the boss, I'm the oldest one!"

"Well fine. Then you shouldn't be more afraid than us of some little pets, right?" Severus approached differently, tactfully putting his hand on the doorknob.

Petunia stood in the middle of the road, seeming to be processing, but then she slid him away and entered before he could.

Severus raised an eyebrow at Lily with a smile that said: _See? This is how it is done_. Lily rolled her eyes, but smiling as well. They found Petunia looking disgusted at the bird droppings that were covering the base of a huge cage full of owls of all kinds.

"Wow!" Lily said to the same birds.

Severus remembered that her letter had not been delivered by an owl, and therefore Lily had probably never seen such animals before anywhere excepting the Zoo. However, he suspected that his friend will get bored of owls pretty quickly when they should arrive at Hogwarts. He had expected Lily to be firstly attracted by the Nifflers, some moles looking little creatures with platypus heads and with an extreme obsession for collecting shiny objects. For this reason the lattices of their cage were made of silver - to keep them in. Or to be mostly fascinated by the Omani-Origami hummingbirds that had the special quality of folding their tiny wings and tails in all directions and shapes imaginable, as if they were made of paper. One of them knotted its wings over its head in a bow, right in front of a frailer specimen. That was their mating ritual.

"Oh, watch this one!" Petunia said, looking up at a bat that was hiding its head under its wing, hanging upside down from the ceiling, "Reminds me of someone familiar."

Severus understood her allusion, and glared at the girl who began to scream as soon as the big bat entangled itself in her rare hair.

"Oh, my goodness!" was heard the prominent Scottish accent of the shop owner who was busy presenting an angora kitten to an old lady.

But before he could interfere, Petunia dashed outside, crying and trying hard to cover her face, with the flying mammal rotating on the top of her head.

Lily and Severus chased after her. The bat had flown away, and the seller brought it back to the ground with a spell that froze its wings and then caught it in the beret he took of just in time.

"Really Severus?" Lily said furiously (meaning super furious, only then was she using his full name) while speeding together.

"Hey, it wasn't me this time!" Severus defended himself.

Lily gave him an unconvinced and merciless look.

"I mean, well, I don't think it was me."

Lily intensified her expression.

"So maybe it was me! But I've told you! I can't control it! "

"Well, try to make an effort then! You almost took her eye out!"

Severus would have cared to mention the bat had not targeted her face, but her neck, yet they both stopped suddenly in front of the large shadow casted by the ragged roofs of some stores with very dirty windows.

"Let me guess." Lily sighed ironically, "Knokturn Alley."

"Yup." Severus said using the same tone.

"And you weren't kidding when you said she wouldn't last in there four minutes."

"Nope."

"Then what are we waiting for? Come on! "Lily shouted, taking it boldly down the side path.

They passed as fast as the wind among the jagged boards that were announcing the sale of bizarre objects such as poisoned candles, weapons against vampires and personalized Pandora's Boxes. At least Petunia's lace dress and her bonbon-pink tights stood out in the sea of shady shadows, like a parrot in a flock of crows.

"Tuney!" Lily called for her worriedly.

Petunia wiped her eyes forcefully, looked at them aggressively and slammed the door of the nearest store behind her as if she was imagining it was the door with the _Do Not Enter _sign of her bedroom. But on the shop's wooden board it stood written in sharp and twisted letters: _Udoo Voodoo_.

Lily didn't stop to read, but dashed after her sister, whom she found petrified with fear in front of a crooked shelf filled with skulls that had strange patterns of leaves or flowers, colored rhombuses or crosses on their foreheads. Directly on the floor or on single and tubular stands were human statues decorated with beads or some simpler ones that portrayed winged felines. Strange sun-shaped arrangements made of hay straws with human faces in the middle were hanging from the ceiling right next to bottles painted in patterns similar to those on the skulls and which were briefly swaying. Other bottles with cork stoppers and yellowed packaging were stationed on tight shelves.

"How can I help you, my little potatoes?" they heard the thin voice of an old man who didn't seem to have been there a few seconds ago.

He was without any doubt one of those strangers whom Severus' mother had warned him about. He had a bald head animated only by a few tangled tufts, one eye with cat-like pupils, and the other covered by a patch. He was wearing a bone necklace, a cape with a hood drilled by moths and some beaver leather gloves with almost all the fingers missing.

Petunia screamed frightened and Lily looked at the shop owner cautiously. The older sister ran for the door, but the man blocked her path even though he was on the opposite side of the store just a fraction of a moment ago.

"Some little nuggets like yourselves sure could use one of these to prevent death from recognizing you, he he he he."

The old man took out a hideous mask with many details made of striped feathers.

"Uh, no thank you, sir." Lily said with a forced politeness.

"Hmm, then, maybe something like this!" said the seller, pulling out a small knife with a bandaged handle.

Petunia screamed like in a horror movie.

"Oh, don't be silly, doll. It is cursed against the demons of the ancestors."

Severus realized that the old man would not let them go until he would have tried to tempt them with every single element of his stock. And worse, he didn't know how would he react if he found out Petunia wasn't even a witch.

_Doll _... he repeated in his mind, catching his eyes on a basket full of cloth dolls.

"I would like one of these!" Severus said sharply, giving the old man one of the dolls.

"Ah!" his entire wrinkled face suddenly lightened up.

It seemed not many were frequenting his shop, and fewer were those who didn't come out empty handed.

"An excellent choice, dear boy. Now you will be able to punish your enemies properly. And just for five galleons!"

Severus quickly gave him the gold from his pouch. The old man tested one of the coins by biting it between his deformed and chipped teeth as if he were expecting it to be chocolate.

The girls took this opportunity to slip out, and Lily pulled Severus by his hand like a parent dissatisfied with something inappropriate or indecent that distracted their child.

"Didn't I tell you, Lily, didn't I tell you? You see what kind of people this nonsensical place is hiding!" Petunia said, sounding as if she were to burst into tears again.

"Come on, Tuney ... Now it's not good to judge by covers, I mean, I know he seemed a little..."

"Creepy?" cut Petunia "And he behaved as if he was home!" she pointed at Severus.

"Hey!" he protected himself, "The best way to survive is to adapt on the go! I had to find a way to get you out of there!"

"Tuney, Sev thought fast, if not we ..."

"Oh yes? So this has nothing to do with the fact he wanted one of these stupidities?" Petunia said, grabbing the arm in which Severus was holding the doll, "Do you know what this is, Lily? Even I know since that school play in October. It's a Voodoo Doll! Put the hair of the person you want to control in it and it will do whatever you want! It happened to my character because of the boy who liked her!"

Severus meditated a little about the disturbing nature of the script of that play, only later noticing the uneasiness which Lily was watching the doll cluttered in his fist. He laughed trying to sound breezy.

"What? You can be serious? It's just a Muggle superstition. A bargain. Why do you think it was only five gallons?"

"Because of Quasimodo there doesn't have his business going on too well?" Petunia expressed her opinion wrapping her arms around her chest.

"It's ridiculous! Look, let me prove it to you ... "

Petunia pulled herself away from him, protecting her hair already damaged by the bat.

Severus rolled his eyes and tore one of his own black threads. He unscrewed the doll's expressionless head like a light bulb and added his hair into the padding.

"Sev, you really don't have to ..." Lily began scared.

But Sev already folded the doll's arm behind its back. Lily covered her mouth with her hands, but Severus didn't have any of the reactions she was expecting.

"See?"

"Tuney, I think it's just a souvenir." Lily breathed in relief.

Tuney snorted and turned her back. Lily followed her.

Released from their orbits, Severus gritted his teeth and massaged his left arm. He quickly removed the hair from the Voodoo Doll and placed it in the spacious pocket of his coat, determined to put it in a place where he would never be tempted to use it again.

The already familiar scream of Petunia stood out once again.

"Oh, what now?" said Severus tiredly.

He found the two sisters in a crowd of people with filthy and ragged appearances, gathered in front of stands piled up with bottles with, most convincingly, illegally imported and marketed contents. Another group was sitting around a camp fire placed right there, on the stone slabs, and they were roasting instead of marshmallows, decapitated salamanders. Petunia made her way among them all, bumping into a hulk of a man that had his shirtless torso completely covered in tattoos -most of them representing creatures with sharp teeth or horns- that were shining in a ghostly light. Petunia stepped aside backwardly until she clashed into an old woman with her hair full of spider webs.

"Ah, look, Jimmy, aren't they adorable?" she asked the tattooed man.

Jimmy nodded with a unpleasant, disturbing laugh.

This time Lily and Severus rushed away as fast as Petunia did.

They all stopped breathing heavily next to some trash bins in front of a wall that was missing many bricks.

"Huh? Where are we?" Lily asked.

They were on a narrow, deserted street, but where they could have been easily surrounded.

Severus had only been to Nockturn Alley once before, when his mother needed a more explosive ingredient from a drugstore near the artifact shop, _Borgin and Burkes_, but it was clear that they had ventured way deeper this time around.

"Great, we're lost, aren't we?" Petunia asked looking at Severus accusingly.

He opened his mouth to fight her, but they got both distracted by Lily's tender-filled gasp.

From behind one of the trash cans appeared an orange cat with a squished face and a bushy tail. Unlike the fox cubs in the forest, he let Lily scratch his ear, purring happily.

"Lily, now is not the time!" Severus and Petunia said in a voice, zapping each other with hostile glares immediately after the shock of their realization.

"You guys! I think he wants us to follow him." Lily said, kneeling on the stone surface.

The cat wagged his fluffy tail, turning on his short legs and meowing insistently. Severus and Petunia shown no sign that a cat with the sense of trajectory and guide oscillations was something normal in any of their worlds.

But Lily ignored them, and started to follow the footsteps of the ginger cat. Severus thought they would get even more lost as the cat drove them further between buildings with windows barricaded with planks, and rubbish simply abandoned in the darkest of corners. But the diffused darkness was gradually fading away until they got out onto a main street, near a bookstore called _Flourish and Blotts_.

Petunia looked more delighted than she would have been in any other context to see again wizards and witches with friendly faces dressed in colorful and clanking robes.

"We did it! And all thanks to you!" Lily said, picking up the cat and hugging him.

Severus noticed, through the shop's window, the silhouette of his mother and the flame-like hair of Mr Evans. It seemed the grown-ups had gotten a head-start with the shopping list without anymore waiting for them. Severus suspected that the idea had been introduced by his mother.

"Ah, kids, I saw you from inside. We wondered where you went." Mrs. Evans said, leaving the shopping to the other two parents.

"It's a long story." said Lily.

"And I know it wasn't written down in there, but I told myself to add something extra."

Mrs. Evans took out of her bag a thin book with a new cover and entitled _Culinary Recipes that Will Turn You Into an Even Better Cook Than A House Elf_.

"I'm going to try some of these."

"Greeeeat..." Lily tried to keep her excited, though Severus knew she preferred the food made by Mr. Evans.

"Mommy. Home. NOW!" Petunia ordered, hugging her mother.

"Oh, Tuney, I thought you were over it. We still have to pick up a lot of items."

"Minus one." said Lily showing the orange puss to her mother.

Petunia stared at the quadruped as if she was only now remembering his presence and without any particular enthusiasm in sharing her habitat with a hairy ball on paws.

"Lily, but are you sure that ..." Mrs. Evans began.

"It's the right choice! Believe me, Mom, he really deserves it."

Severus couldn't disagree with that.

* * *

"Lily, you're going to get someone's eyes out with that thing!" Petunia warned as Lily was waving a ten inches-long wand.

The older sister was especially frustrated that Mr Evans was pulling a wagon full of books, two cauldrons, scales, telescopes and a bunch of small, threaded bottles, right through the middle of London in the open field of all curious passers-by.

Mrs. Evans was carrying their school robes carefully folded into a paper bag with the emblem of _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions _shop on it, and Severus' mother - a jar full of Buzz Berries camouflaged in a cloth bag but which was not enough to nullify the noise of hyperactive insects coming from inside.

"You know I hate to admit it, but she really does have a point." Severus whispered in Lily's ear, "There are many Muggles around here."

"I know, but I can't help myself! Phoenix feather, Sev! And willow wood, you know they are my favorite trees, well right after ... "

Lily bit her upper lip obviously waiting for Severus to continue.

"Fir trees ..." he said slowly, shaking the bag containing his own wand - black fir wood and dragon heart strings.

Still, Lily put her wand back in her rucksack and looked lovingly at the cat that had fallen asleep in Severus's copper cauldron, giving Mr Evans a considerable extra weight to carry.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III

\- Olly Railen –

School didn't start until the first of September. Severus had expected Lily to intensify his interrogation about the smallest details of the Wizarding World. Instead, Lily had become more concerned about the fact Hogwarts was at a considerable distance from home, which made her obsessed about spending as much quality time with her family as possible, since she wouldn't meet them up until the Christmas holiday from between the semesters.

Severus told himself not to feel selfish. After all, he and Lily had many months to spend together at the school well-hidden in the highlands of Scotland.

As for Petunia, for a reason Severus couldn't deduce, she hadn't blown a word to her parents about their little bypass on the alley dedicated to dark magic.

The approach of autumn caused the Wiz Club to lose much of its cloak of leaves that use to camouflage it with the rest of the garden, but on that morning, something else caught Severus' attention - claws scratches on the surface of the Evans family mailbox.

He would have considered that Lily's cat had trouble accommodating with his new home if it weren't for the feathers stuck in the opening of the oblique lid.

It wasn't a crime to investigate a little. Inside the mailbox he found two invoices, a postcard from the Black Sea vacation of a acquaintance and something that seemed frighteningly familiar. It was an envelope made of the same consistent material used for the letters he and Lily had received. It even had the same H logo.

Perhaps those who were completely novice in magic, like Lily, were given some supplement to explain to their parents about the obligations of keeping the secret of the Wizarding World they had to follow, but what was written on its back made his heart skip a beat.

_Miss Petunia Evans, Azami Avenue, no. 12 Cokeworth. Midlands._

There was no way ... To meet two sorcerer children in a Muggle family may not have been impossible, but not very plausible either. And even if that were the case, Petunia was already thirteen. Magical abilities were detected and notified at the age of eleven. And yet, it didn't hurt to be sure. Lily certainly had to find out about it too.

He climbed up the rope ladder, but the oak club was empty except for the ginger feline who was snoozing on the pillow next to the plush penguin. So, after all, he had no problems with accommodation. The cat turned on his side and twirled his ears when he heard Severus' footsteps. He got up lazily and curled around his legs. Severus noticed that Mrs. Evans had finally finished weaving the synthetic collar that had printed on the front, the word _Crookshanks_. Severus thought it was a name quite appropriate for a puss that was roaming alone the dangerous streets of the suburb like it was nothing.

He imagined that if Crookshanks was there, then Lily couldn't be too far away either. He settled to wait for her there, taking out the fifth number of the _Kung Fu Kangaroo_ comic books collection.

He was just about to get to the intrigue, when Lily slammed in, throwing herself exhausted on her belly, on the pillow next to Crookshanks.

"Gardening again?" Severus asked perplex, turning the page.

Lily turned on her back to look angrily at the ceiling. Her shorts were muddy and she had a small thistle stuck in her shirt.

"I said let's do something memorable together, Mommy! I like gardening! But that's what we always did before anyway! "

"You do realize you're not exactly separating forever, right?"

"Okay Sev, play smart with me." Lily said bluntly as Crookshanks climbed on her chest not very gracefully.

"Anyway, there is a family member whom you may not have to say goodbye." Severus said more intriguing than Sensei Platypus, whose speech bubble he had reached.

Lily stood up so surprised that Crookshanks slipped back on his pillow.

"What do you mean?"

Severus held out the heavy envelope.

"Tuney?" read Lily ,"You don't think ..." she said lifting her eyes at him.

"Not really. But just to be one hundred percent sure ... "

"No, oh no, I really don't think we should. I mean, it's not ethical. Tuney has her right to privacy."

"Eh." Severus said emotionless, remembering the days when Petunia was spying on his conversations with Lily by hiding in the bushes, though to be fair, he did the same to the two sisters before he came to know the younger one of them.

"No, we really shouldn't." Lily repeated, pulling the envelope away between her two fingers as if it were an object cursed to lure her, "Although ..."

Severus recognized the gleam of curiosity her eyes were awakening whenever he spoke about magical potions or fantastic animals.

"Ah fine! But just because Tuney wouldn't tell me otherwise if she got admitted or not!" Lily accepted, " And fast! She's not up yet. Last night she had rehearsals until late for the _Swan Lake_."

Lily gently opened the envelope, peeling the wax with her fingernails, which fortunately had been protected from Mrs. Evans's flower soil by her rubber gloves. She opened the folded letter. The letters were drawn in golden ink, thin and inclined.

_Dear Miss Evans,_

_Although I am deeply pleased by your enthusiasm about our ways I dare say, at least unusual to those whom you grew acquainted to, I regret that I must be the one to inform you, our institution does not deal with teaching the elementary knowledge of the world you rightfully belong to. This is of course a big and regrettable minus. How much I would like to teach at least one beautiful hour of literature ..._

_Unfortunately, my students have other concerns that I fear will not be very suitable, not only because of physical abilities, but also of the different temperament of those who will never understand the system so much more complicated than a simple spell, of a vacuum cleaner, or those wonderful music boxes. Would you believe that some of them don't even respect lemon drops just because they only have one flavor? But I think that is the ideal flavor. I think we all have our ideal flavors._

_I remain grateful, my dear, that you have shown your interest in what we do, and one day, I wish we could do the same for you. But as for today, I am afraid there is a barrier between our worlds, a barrier that I hope will not prevent us from ever hearing from each other again,_

_With special consideration and the most sincere pleasure,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

"Albus Dumbledore?" Severus repeated in amazement.

"But I don't understand. I thought Tuney didn't like it. I mean, _your enthusiasm about our ways_? _Interest in what we do_? I mean ... "

"I told you. Jealous. "

Lily still looked at the sheet of paper not believing it.

"This means Tuney has written to this ... Albus ... Dumbledore?"

"It surprises me too. Not so much that she wrote to him, but that she got an answer back. Lily I don't know if I told you, but Albus Dumbledore I think is the most powerful and important wizard alive! He's the director at Hogwarts. He wasn't when my mother was in school, but even then everyone knew you had to be a dunderhead to try fighting against him. I can't believe that a wizard of his caliber has made time on his agenda to answer a child's letter, especially one who ... " but Severus stopped seeing the anxiety wherewith Lily did not took her eyes away from the letter, "... uh, not important right now."

"But this means ..." Lily whispered, looking at Severus with a contagious smile, "That Tuney really wanted to be with me!"

Severus' heart didn't let him catch her up with the fact Petunia's motivations and priorities might have differed a little, especially since the older sister had completely ignored her younger sibling ever since they had returned from Diagon Alley.

"And you don't think this Dumbledore guy might change his mind?" I mean, from the letter he seems a really nice person." Lily said eagerly.

"Lily, this doesn't depend on him. Not even Dumbledore can offer magical powers, out of nowhere, to someone who clearly does not have them."

Lily dropped defeated on the juice-boxes nightstand, the letter addressed to her sister, and started smoothing Crookshanks' back, like a therapeutic exercise meant to cheer her up and which had immediate results.

"Done! This should be enough. Do you think she'll find out?" Lily asked after she used a glue tube to fix the places where she had peeled off the wax and then added some cherry watercolor over them.

"I think she will be too excited she had received a response to observe." Severus said, keeping away from the envelope Crookshanks, who had been playing with his paws in the same hue placed on the paint palette, "But it's really incredible! There must be wizards working undercover at the Muggle post office."

"Then Dumbledore might be right." Lily concluded, "Maybe there's a chance the two worlds will come together one day."

If it was something that Severus' parents exemplified perfectly, then that was the reason why this union would have never worked.

* * *

The first of September came with a cold morning rain, but that was unable to wash away Severus' ecstasy. He was about to leave Spinners End, to finally leave behind the smell of fish, the fiery quarrels between his parents, Petunia's insults and all the Muggle-specific boredom. No matter what Dumbledore had written, he saw nothing interesting about a vacuum cleaner.

His school stuff was stored in his mother's old trunk. It was almost 10 in the morning. The train to Hogwarts was leaving London at 11 AM. The Evans must have left much earlier since they were going by car. But either was the Floo Network the most convenient mean of transport on such occasions.

"Are you blind? You're going to block it!" Severus's father warned when the school trunk had been hardly pushed into the fireplace.

The mother circled the air with her wand and the trunk became as small as it could fit in Petunia's dollhouse. She gave her husband some confident eyes and a slick grin.

"Show off ..." snorted Tobias Snape heading to the kitchen without saying goodbye and without the impression that his son will not come back for several months.

Without any heartbreak, Severus picked up his trunk from the soot and rubbed it against his sleeve to prevent the place where it was going to be restored to its normal size, to get covered in a cloud of ash. He put it in his pocket.

"Tell Olly Railen's living room," his mother instructed.

"Olly Railen?"

"He's an old school friend who lives near the King Cross Station."

Severus didn't ask any more questions and did just that, waking up in a living room almost smaller than the one he had disappeared from, but with a much warmer and more friendly appearance. The floor was covered with carpets having patterns so diverse that they seemed brought from all over the world. The sofa had rounded edges and was decorated with blankets that matched wonderfully with the carpets. The shelves were crowded with books among which there were small chests, scrolls, snow globes, trinkets that were waving or looking at him curiously, a set of chess and a few of Gobstones. The library was flanked by a tall Chinese vase and a Mayan statue that reminded him unpleasantly much of the _Udoo Voodoo _store.

A broom and a scoop were gathering by themselves the crumbs around the low Japanese-style table on which surface stood a dirty cup of coffee, but Severus was relieved that Olly Railen was not there at the moment, until his mother appeared in the fireplace.

"Olly? Olly, are you in here?" she made her presence heard.

"Eilly? Is that really you?" a gentle voice in an unmistakable Canadian accent came from the next room.

A man that was reaching his mother only below the shoulder, thin, with brown hair neglected until untidiness, blue and dense eyes enlarged by the square lenses of his glasses and dressed in a turtleneck sweater, came from behind a curtain substituting for a door. He had a honest joy wrapped around his face's feeble features, and he embraced Severus' mother naturally, even though his arms did not extend far beyond her waist.

Soon, all three of them were at a straw table with metal edges, on the outdoor balcony. Olly Railen lived in a twelve-storey block, on the eighth floor. He had a pretty good view of the city. A few blocks away, as you crossed the street, was the gigantic, old-fashioned British Library, which Severus suspected made Olly Railen feel pretty lucky. It was no mystery that they were intersecting with the street that led to King Cross because the train roars and the clatter of rails made their tea cups shake on the thin table.

"I think you'll like them. Just brought them from India." Olly Railen said, sliding the door that sent you to the kitchen and placing a large bowl of seed cookies in front of them.

"Thanks Olly, but we won't stay for long."

"Oh, I know Eilly, but I got a bit overboard. You know we don't get to see each other too often." Olly said pulling out the chair between them,"You have your lab ... "

"And you your research trips. Honestly, I was surprised to find you at home." Eilly said, seeming, to Severus' surprise, happy to have found him.

"Oh, yes, I had discovered some very exciting inscriptions in the temple at Srirangam, although it's not very easy at all with all the Hindu festivals they hold inside. But I don't complain, they really know how to party."

"Yeah, and that's exactly what we were, isn't it? Party Animals?" Severus's mother asked in a joking tone.

Olly Railen laughed.

"Yes yes, i know. They had to force us out of the library. And Pringle was losing his mind. I wonder if he has retired by now." said the Olly, fixing his glasses on Severus' direction."So which subject are you mostly looking forward to trying?"

"Uh, well ..." Severus began unsure "I didn't think about it much. They all sound potentially ... interesting."

"Oh!" Olly said affectionately, "He even talks like you!" he noticed, looking at his old class mate, "I bet he will be a natural at Potions. Did you knew, Severus? Your mother and I were making an invincible team at Slughorn's classes! Of course, I was particularly fascinated by the History of Magic, but your mother also had her passions. After all, I have to remember I'm talking with the captain of the Gobstones Club!"

"Ah, stop it, Olly." the captain said modestly, "After all, we couldn't have won the championship against Durmstrang without you in our team."

It seemed bringing up the subject of the Gobstones game was a real black hole that had absorbed the two school friends in an unlimited amicable discussion.

"And it spitted him straight into the mouth!" concluded Olly Railen the seventh anecdote.

"Yes, an amateur. He threw those stones so hard you could have said they insulted his family."

"Or maybe that beard. Can't you believe he was only fourteen? Really now, do they test aging spells on students there or what?"

Severus felt like the fifth wheel of the wagon, playing with his teaspoon and a sugar cube in his empty cup.

An enchanted kettle was swirling around him on the table, stomping on its little golden feet, but Severus politely pushed it away. Black Arabian tea stirred him more than it was the case in such circumstances.

"Ah, look how time flies by!" Olly said sadly, taking out a bronze pocket watch.

He led them to the door near a key hanger, two umbrellas and a flying broom, resting in a corner behind a pair of boots discolored from the sand.

"And don't forget, Eilly, my fireplace is always open, even though I can't guarantee you will always find me here. This is also available for you, Severus. Have a nice road to Hogwarts!"

The two guests thanked him.

Soon they were on a crowded street with more directions for the cars passing by, one more hasty watering a lady on heels when it stepped with its wheel in a big puddle near a curb.

"I shouldn't forget to give you your ticket," said Severus' mother, who had returned to her usual solemnity.

They arrived at the train station, filled with people either in black suits with stressed eyes and stiff suitcases, or in large shirts pulling behind them mobile luggages, ending their summer vacations or planning to start new ones just in time for the end of the season, when hotel prices were in a continuous decrease.

A family with three children each pushing trunks like Severus' on trolleys, one of them keeping above it, a cage with a zig-zagged stripes owl, vanished in a host of people near the space between platforms 9 and 10.

After waiting for the Muggle wave to cross by, Severus' mother passed through the brick wall between the platforms as if it was the curtain from Olly Railen's living room. Severus followed her trying not to attract the attention of the passers-by but who had been distracted anyway by the arrival of the quarter to 11 o'clock train.

He passed straight through the wall and onto a platform scratched by the wheels of dozens of luggage trolleys. Kids older than him were shaking hands or hugging after what must have been a long summer and those he could only assume were part of the first year, were staring around, especially at the red steam engine waiting next to the platform.

The teenage girl who passed him by with a hairy white cat, made Severus think of Lily. He looked up at the big pillar clock. The train was leaving in exactly 10 minutes and the first wagons were already occupied by children waving goodbye to their parents who were drowned in the smoke of the locomotive. He glanced worriedly after Lily and the rest of the Evans family. They should have arrived by now.

He spotted quick enough, the nape of Mr Evans, who was showing fascinated to Mrs Evans an owl about the size of an adult pig or a smaller pony, crammed into a huge cage, which was scarcely dragged by a freckled little boy - probably the victim of an accidental size changing spell and a child from a Muggle family who was hoping that the adults at Hogwarts would be able to solve his problem.

Lily and Petunia were keeping some distance from their parents. Severus was surprised that Petunia had agreed to accompany them after receiving Dumbledore's unfavorable response. Lily made a hand gesture to point out that she had seen him, then turned at once to face back her sister.

The two girls seemed to be arguing, or, well, Petunia certainly was trying to, Lily seemed to be making efforts to stay reasonable. He couldn't hear what they were saying because of the buzz the crowd was making, but from the way Petunia was almost spitting and Lily tearing up, it must have been something serious. Suddenly Lily's subtle cry turned into a cold ferocity that somehow filled Petunia with even more fire.

Lily glanced at him, this time sneaky. Petunia also looked at him.

He could clearly hear Petunia slamming the term _Freak_ before furiously moving away from Lily and back to Mr and Mrs Evans.

Left alone on the platform and bypassed by careless students, many of whom were already wearing their school robes, Severus had a stinging theory that fresh tears were hiding under Lily's disheveled red hair. He wanted to go to her, but his mother took him by the hand.

"Do you really want to go of with a three-inches large trunk?"

Severus handed her the trunk out of his pocket and she brought it back to its normal size, to the amazement of a little girl of about five years old, who was piggybacking her father and saying goodbye to her older brother.

When he turned back, the Evans family was gone. Probably Lily had boarded because he immediately saw Mr. Evans standing by the last of the wagons, which meant that Petunia had refused to wait any longer and her mother went after her to calm her down.

"Uh, Mom, I think I should go," Severus said.

"Yes," said his mom, seeming to look for something more memorable and meaningful to tell him, "Just ... just take care of yourself there, after all Hogwarts is not ..."

"The safest place in the world as some say?"

His mother managed a smile.

"You really keep in mind everything I tell you."

"Well, sure." Severus said with a small smile too.

But he lost it as soon as he heard the impatient whistle of the steam engine. He pulled his trunk to the last wagon and Mr Evans offered to help him get it up.

"I could have levitated that, Leonard."

"Ah, that's fine, Eileen. I like to make myself useful. You know, with these Muddle arms, or however you call them." said Leonard jovially, certainly not understanding full well the implications of the _Muggle_ term.

But before Severus could get in, Mr. Evans leaned to his level and whispered in his ear:

"You should see what Lily is doing. I think she could really use a good friend right now."

Severus gave him an affirmative and very convinced nod.

A clatter was heard and all the doors closed by themselves and simultaneously, shortly before the train started moving. He saw Mr. Evans through the rear window, waving his hand, and his mother sitting beside him much more reserved.

Severus put his school robe on, into the luggage compartment where he had left his trunk. As he prepared to go in search of Lily, he heard a familiar meow from behind the cage of the huge owl that had drawn the Evans family's attention on the platform. The same section of the wagon was littered with such domed cages and rectangular ones, but most of them were empty. Students usually preferred to keep their pets with them in the passenger compartments. And although it was excusable why the boy with freckles had left behind a bird that would have occupied more than half of a seat, the fact that Crookshanks was alone in a portable cat cage covered with star, fruit and heart-shaped stickers was exceeding his common sense.

Lily must have been really upset if she had forgotten about her new favorite kitten so easily. He released him, considering that's what Lily would want. Crookshanks rotated gratefully his bushy tail around Severus's ankle.

The ginger cat sticked with him like maple syrup until he slid the door open, and, without any warning, Crookshanks rushed out into the landing.

"Wait!" Severus yelled, chasing after him.

However, he was forced to stop on his heels in front of the authoritative palm, held in front like a traffic policeman, of a girl older than him with braided hair and a badge on which he could very clearly see the letter P.

"Running down the corridor is completely forbidden. We are in a wheeled vehicle, how complicated could this notion possibly be, for Merlin's sake! "

"No, no, it makes perfect sense. Sorry!"

The girl stared at him through the thin frames of her glasses. She seemed to have been expecting a slightly more rebellious reaction. She nodded vigorously, to show him that he was escaping with a simple warning, but that she would not tolerate such behavior a second time. She rose imposingly on the peaks of her feet and then moved on, just to find a new prey in the tall boy who put his head out the window.

"Come on, do you really think I'm going to fall over there?" the boy replied with a mocking flavor.

"Well, maybe not entirely. In fact, I think you have a better chance of sharing Almost Headless Nick's fate!" Severus could hear them say until he closed behind the door to the next wagon.

He looked for Crookshanks, respecting the apparent speed limits, but instead his eyes fell on the small window of a compartment where two loud boys were, and in a corner unobserved by them... Lily!

He opened the door and slunk beside the knees of the boys sunk in their intense conversation. Lily glanced at him, then turned back to the country landscape scrolling through the window. However, she had not been fast enough for Severus not to notice her red eyes or the dampness around them. He sat softly on the opposite side of her.

"I don't want to talk to you!" Lily said in a blotter voice.

Severus leaned slightly toward her and asked calmly:

"Why not?"

"Tuney hates me. Because we saw the letter from Dumbledore."

Severus withdrew to the back of his seat. So they had been caught. Lily had been somewhat tactless, but he wouldn't have dared to say such a thing to her, especially not at such times. However, he could not hide his reproach against Petunia.

"So what?" he said coldly.

"So she's my sister!"

"She's only a-" but he changed his mind in time, forcing his brain to cancel all the 17 insults that it had prepared for Petunia at that moment.

It would have been much wiser to change the topic of the discussion.

"But we're going!" he said, trying to sound as excited as Lily when she had said the exact same sentence the day before, "This is it!" he thought aloud when he saw that it was effective and Lily's face lit up, "We're going to Hogwarts!"

Lily wiped her eyes and smiled weakly. It still was enough to encourage Severus.

"You'd better be in Slytherin!"

He was ready to explain the concept to her questioning face, but it seemed that one of the boys they were sharing the compartment with, wanted to be first.

"Slytherin?" he said.

His hair was even less tidy than Olly Railen's, but unlike him, who seemed tired and careless about it, the boy on the train looked pretty well-cared-for, and that was probably his own choice in hairstyle matter. He had round glasses, and yet his naughty grin helped him not to come across as nerdy.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

He had addressed to the boy whom he had been talking to. This one had long, well-combed hair and was wearing expensive but sober clothes. He was laying comfortably on his seat, but he tensed a bit when he heard the question.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin."

"Blimey." said the boy with glasses, "And I thought you seemed all right."

He was rushing with prejudice more so than Petunia, but the boy with long hair did not look offended.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

The glasses boy went up on the seat, bending his knee, imitating King Arthur raising an imaginary sword.

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!"

The train took a sharp turn, but the boy kept his balance as if he didn't even notice.

"Like Dad!" he added proudly.

Severus let out a small sound and not at all mind-blown.

"Got a problem with that?" the boy asked snorting, recovering the insulted voice that was missing from the other.

"No." Severus tried, but could not help himself, "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy."

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" the boy with dark clothes intervened.

The eyeglasses of the other one almost fell down his nose from laughing. That was the last straw for Lily. She got up, marching angrily.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."

"Ooooooo ..." intoned their wagon fellows in choir.

Severus stepped spitefully over the tripping attempting foot of the boy with messy hair .

"See ya, Snivellus!" a jeering voice came from inside the compartment as Lily slammed the door behind them.

Every step Lily was taking was so deep that you could have thought she was trying to smash a worm or a very annoying insect.

"Lily wait!" Severus called while the little girl seemed to mumble something between her clashed teeth, "It's not worth it, really."

Lily turned to him, her long hair waving on her back.

"No! But you do!" she said firmly, "They just called you dumb, Sev! The nerves! They don't even know you yet! "

At least he was no longer the target of Lily's anger. But it still wasn't the atmosphere Severus had anticipated for their long-awaited trip to Hogwarts.

"Leave that. We have more important things." he said, pointing at the hunched old lady who was pushing a trolley full of sweets.

It was not the candy Severus had referred to, but the orange cat which was hitting with his paw an eye-shaped lollipop that was turning its pupil from one perspective to another.

"Crookshanks? But ... how did he get in here?"

"Well, I thought I'd make you a surprise and get him out of the luggage wagon for you, so ... uhh ... surprise?" Severus said a little ashamed.

Lily shook her head slowly with an indulgent and equally amused smile.

It was exactly where Severus had wanted to bring her back, watching peacefully as Lily apologized to the trolley lady.

"It's alright, dear. Happens all the time." said the lady unaffected, stretching out Crookshanks to Lily. "Who wants something to crunch on the road?" was her enticing voice going along the aisle, and many wishful students popped their heads out their doors.

Crookshanks was happy to see Lily, but that didn't stop him from tugging out from her arms when a chocolate frog made an impressive leap toward them.

"Crookshanks, don't!" cried Lily.

Severus quickly removed his wand from his pocket.

"Petrificus Totalus!" he said bluntly.

The chocolate frog fell inert to the ground and Crookshanks pitched over it. Lily looked at Severus in shock.

"What? Oh, don't tell me, chocolate is just as poisonous to cats as it is to dogs." Severus predicted their new arguing topic.

"No, not that. You just did a ... spell, Sev!" Lily said, smiling up to her ears.

"Yes ..." Severus said as surprised as she was, only now noticing what he had managed to do with the reflection imprinted on his mind after witnessing countless of times his mother using the same spell on the real frogs needed in her lab, "Yes, I suppose I did."

"But how ... It was incredible!"

"It really was." a new, high-pitched voice came into the background.

They turned to a little boy with a hamster-like face and dirty-blonde hair.

"Oh, I'm only sorry I didn't buy some more," the boy added, looking sadly at the cat who was devouring the last leg of what was supposedly the snack escaped from him.

"If you're fast ... I think you can still catch the trolley." Severus suggested, instigating his wandless hand along the aisle.

The little boy took off with small but quick steps, twisting his pockets from where the clink of carelessly kept coins could be intercepted.

The laughter of the two boys who had mocked Severus's preferences, then Lily's authoritarian nature, was still coming from behind the door of the compartment they had just deserted.

"Look ... I think that one is empty." Severus pointed out at the only noise-free compartment from around them.

* * *

Yay, we're finally off to Hogwarts! The fanfic was originally going to start from the point where Lily and Severus had left James and Sirius' compartment. I know I had to repeat some things from Deathly Hollows, including the exact same dialog at the end, but I tried to add some contextual reasons and reactions that I guess couldn't really be noticed from Harry's perspective from the book, and don't worry, it only gets into a different direction from here now on.

Anyway, I hope you guys like what I did to Eillen Snape in this. You know, in most fanfiction I read, she's a helpless, scared or even abused female character, but we don't need to forget who's mother is she after all. She has to have some guts in her, like come on, I needed something more memorable. Also turns out I really like the fandom theory that Crookshanks was the cat mentioned in Lily's letter, also in book 7. Dunno, he is my favorite animal character from the franchise. I mostly used him for comedic moments, but also some more touching ones, so I don't regret taking him in.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter IV

\- Changing the Course of the Railways–

The compartment was not exactly empty, but it was certainly much quieter as a single little boy with beach-sand-color hair sat in the corner near the door, with his nose behind a thick, slightly discolored book.

Severus cleared his voice to get his attention.

"You mind?"

The boy raised his head behind the book and Lily startled.

His entire face was covered in the scars of what appeared to once have been very long and deep cuts or scratches.

"No, not at all," replied the sandy-hair boy, friendly.

Severus and Lily sat next to the window, facing each other. Lily threw glances at the boy who returned to the book he seemed so absorbed in.

Severus thought he probably would have reacted the same way if some strangers were disturbing his solitude. He would have completely ignored them by trying to get back into the world that books were also waking up so often into him. Fortunately though, he was not trapped between strangers, he had Lily.

After a while, Lily turned her head to the window and to the trees that were left far behind. Soon the window was covered with a stain of steam coming from the breath of some very bored lips.

Severus knew what was next.

"Are we there yet?"

It was the exact same question Lily was repeatedly asking whenever her mother was driving them somewhere.

"What? I'm bored!" she said, petting Crookshanks, who accompanied her on the seat, licking his still sweetened paws.

Meanwhile, the other boy's eyes stealthily turned to them.

Lily noticed.

"Hey, what are you reading there?"

"Oh." Said the boy, suddenly lowering his book.

It seemed he hadn't expected to be taken into account, but didn't mind it at all.

"_Hogwarts: A History_."

"Oh, well, History is ... uh, exciting!" Lily said as convincingly as she could, about one of her last favorite subjects at the Muggle school, "So, Sev ... what's Slytherdor and Gryfferin?"

"Slytherin and Gryffindor." corrected Sev, "They are two of the four houses at Hogwarts. There are also Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. "

"Hufflepuff?" chuckled Lily, "Sounds funny."

Severus began to regret that he had not informed Lily earlier about the four houses, because they now had the full attention of the boy who abandoned his history volume open on his knees.

"So you're not from here?" he asked her.

Lily shook her head cheerfully as if the boy had made a compliment of which she was so very proud. But Severus wasn't so sure. If it wasn't for the peaceful face of this scarred kid, then he might have assumed that a pure-blooded wizard was just preparing his ammunition. His mother had warned him that some of them had this tendency.

"Okay, Sev, so what's up with these... houses then?" Lily reoriented to him.

"Well ... the students are separated in them ..."

"Separated?" she panicked, "You mean they won't let us stay together?"

"Only if we don't get into the same house. That's why I wanted you to come with me to Slytherin."

"Oh, good." Lily breathed relaxed, leaning her back on the seat, "So they let you choose."

"Well, not exactly ..."

"Oh." returned the girl to a more strained position, "But ... then how do you know where you're going?"

"Because I know I would fit in there best." Severus replied simply, raising his chin.

"Why?"

"Slytherins are reserved and ambitious."

"Oh, that's you!" Lily said, smiling broadly.

Severus got a little red.

"I think you're ambitious too. That's why I think maybe we can stay together."

The thought pleased Lily, then a small doubt could be read clearly on the soft features of her face.

"But, Sev ... what if I fit in other houses too?"

"Well, there is also Ravenclaw, they're the smart ones. Um, yeah, you would go perfectly in there, too." Severus realized lifting his eyes at the ceiling. He felt like he missed this possibility.

"You too!" Lily said, placing her hand on his knee.

"Oh ... and Hufflepuff ..." Severus tried to retrieve his inner balance and continue in a tone as normal as possible, "They are the cute, nice guys."

He stopped. Certainly Lily would have made a great Hufflepuff as well. Maybe she would have been perfect anywhere except -

"And Gryffindor?" Lily interrupted his thinking current.

"Brave and daring!" The boy with the history book said suddenly, before Severus had the chance.

"Oh, sorry ..." he blushed as he felt his fellow train colleagues staring at him.

"It's okay." Lily said, "Oh, and brawny you said, Sev?"

"Mm, sports occupies a high podium in their interests album." Severus said with a facial expression that showed he did not believe the same at all, "More than the mind, that's for sure."

"You think?" the other boy asked looking at his book somewhat with regret.

"Yes. I assume you have not yet reached _The Four Division_, it's Chapter 5. "

The boy browse his book quickly.

Severus, standing right next to him, could show him where to look, touching with his frail finger the picture of a lion on a red shield-like shape, next to the caption _Sorting Attributions_. The boy began to read, and Lily got curious as well, sitting on the other side, next to him.

If he were in his place Severus would have closed the book in their noses getting up to find some personal space, except this child rose the corners of his mouth as he was content having them so close.

"Oh, but look, they're also fair and noble," Lily observed.

"Maybe so. But they always jump to prejudices without ever thinking twice." Sev frowned, remembering the two nitwits from the compartment where he had found Lily earlier.

"Prejudice?" the voice of their couch neighbor trembled.

Severus looked at him questioningly.

"But ... they didn't write this anywhere in here." checked the kid by reading between the lines.

"Well obviously not. They want to leave in there only the best of each one. Why do you think it doesn't even say anything about the Slytherin's obsession for blood purity - oh!"

Servus felt like hit by a boulder. How could he let this escape his memory? He looked worriedly at Lily.

"Blood purity?" she asked exactly what he feared she would.

"Oh yes. I heard from my dad that the founder of their house was really obsessed with this thing. He believed that the sorcerers who had both of their parents magical were far more powerful than all the others." the other boy told.

"But it can't be true!" said Lily resentful.

"Of course they're wrong, Lily." Severus said, "We will both handle it at least as good as any of them, you will see."

Lily smiled boldly.

"But, Sev, then ... maybe we shouldn't go to Slytherin."

Severus knew that he didn't met the purity criterion completely either, but he was somehow in the middle, closer to them than Lily was, and this thought put a knot in his stomach.

"I'm not pure either!" said the kid with the book worriedly enough that some might have thought he was fearing Lily and Severus would throw him out of the train if they believed otherwise, "My dad is a sorcerer, but my mom not."

"Oh, how cool! To Sev is the other way around!" Lily said happily, touching Severus's shoulder behind the other boy's back.

And the boy turned his head toward him with such a warm smile that Severus had to retreat a little closer to the window where the cold air came in through its slight opening.

"I'm Lily Evans." Lily decided it was the right moment for presentations.

"Oh-Re-remus Lupin." the boy stammered.

Lily looked at Severus expectantly and insistently. He hesitated, but couldn't have resisted that look.

"Severus Snape ..."

* * *

The sky gradually darken as it was slowly moving toward night. In the red wagon, the light was now lit, sustained especially by some giggly laughter.

"Okay, okay! One more!"

Severus snorted amused, but he obeyed anyway and handed Lily another _Bertie Bott Every Flavor Bean_. Lily simply wasn't learning her lesson, she had just gotten through one with broccoli aroma and two with muddy puddle savor.

Instead, that Remus boy had chosen about five chocolate frogs when the candy wagon returned in front of their compartment.

"Amazing! Have you ever practiced this before?" he asked after Severus helped him to magically immobilize the frog hiding beneath their seat.

"Not practically," Severus replied slowly.

"I only know this one yet. Wingardium Leviosa!"

And the chocolate frog elevated above, floating toward its human hunter.

"Oh, I wish I could do that too ..." Lily said lengthy, looking for her own wand in the front pocket of her backpack.

"Already done, Lily." Severus assured her, "Don't you remember the flowers from that bush?" he asked, careful to leave Petunia's reaction outside the floating flowers memory.

* * *

Lily was looking out the window more and more persistently after Severus announced her that they were nearing their destination.

Remus returned to _Hogwarts: A History_, and Severus envied him for his ability of reading inside wheeled vehicles, without the slightest sense of nausea, because Lily's boredom was starting to spread to him as well.

Fortunately, it didn't take long until the train slowed down. Lily didn't even wait for the locomotive to stop entirely, before jumping off the seat, grabbing Crookshanks in the process.

Severus looked through the window. It was dark outside, so he couldn't distinguish too much, but he was curious to see the real version of the castle instead of the faded image of it, on the cover of the book Remus Lupin had just packed into his bag, seeming as impatient as Lily was.

"Come on, Sev! Come on!" Lily was pulling him by the sleeve, a little later, on the platform already crowded with students.

The only light in the depths of the night came from a lantern high above their heads.

"Wow!" Lily said in amazement as the person holding the lantern came closer.

He was a very tall, consistent man, with a dark, bushy beard, that, altogether with his identical hair and a tanned leather coat, was giving him a bearish appearance. Maybe one of those bears in children's books, because the eyes of the huge man were looking down at them gently.

"First year students com' to me!" he said out loud.

Lily pulled Severus again, this time to the crowd of children who had gathered around the giant guy.

As they were no longer that many, Severus could more easily notice through the crowd, the two boys who had disturbed him on the train. The tallest, the one with longer hair, was pointing out to the boy with glasses and untidy hair, something in the crowns of the trees, which they were all passing along the path the giant was leading them onto. Severus was motivated to ignore them, but everything was in vain as more children began to turn their heads to the same trees.

The huge man frowned at the underwood, straightening his arm to hold the children behind him, though there was no fizzle. But several screams were heard through the small group once a transparent form was seen floating from one tree top to another.

"Ah, it was yeh, Baron?" said the giant, breathing eased.

But Severus did not know if that relieved breath was appropriate given the huge blood stains imprinted on the medieval clothes of the ghost of this baron.

Lily let out a frightened scream as well, but didn't move from where she stood, only whispering to Severus:

"Is this one of the ghosts you were talking about?"

"Another nigh' walk, I s'ppose." the giant man continued as the ghost moved his cold, lifeless eyes from one child to another.

Some little girls, as well as the hamster-looking boy, hided behind those who were fascinated by the baron, among them of course, the boy with glasses and the long-haired one.

"Indeed, Hagrid." replied the ghost simply, in a tone as frozen as his gaze, "Excuse me."

And just like that, the ghost of the baron carried on his walk, disappearing into the dark of the forest.

"Ah, don' worry 'bout him." Hagrid tried to calm them down before keep going, gazing back to make sure no one got left behind.

"He didn't look too friendly," Lily said, walking a little slower than her usual, next to Severus.

"Well, of course not," said the boy with glasses, turning toward them, "That was a Slytherin, how else could he look like?"

"Oh, that's right." Remus approached them too, "I read about him. It's the Bloody Baron, the ghost of the Slytherin house."

"Okay, but if he's a ghost, then why is he covered in blood? It's not like he just hunted something in the woods now, meaning recently, isn't it?" Lily asked, looking Severus in the eye, as like asking him to assure her it wasn't.

"Oh, no." intervened the friend of the kid with glasses, "He is said to have died with that blood on him, although no one knows exactly what did he do to get stuck with it." he said in a voice trying to sound sinister, near Severus' left ear.

"Ugh! Come on, Sev!" got Lily angry again, pulling Sev as far away from the two as possible.

Soon, they reached a few small boats alongside the edge of a wide and dark lake behind which the towers of an impressive castle could be seen, with golden lights shining from each of its hundreds of windows.

Lily watched it with her mouth wide open, and Severus knew she was imagining at once all the castles in her fairy tales.

"No more'n four in a boat!" Hagrid instructed, waiting for all first-year students to board.

It wasn't for the first time Severus and Lily were together in a boat, except that the river near Spinner's End certainly didn't compared to the huge and glossy at the surface lake.

Lily's eyes did not slip from the outline of the castle which became clearer as the boat was getting closer, but Severus instead looked over the edge, wondering how deep the lake was and if the huge squid he had read about in _Hogwarts: a History_ was as peaceful as the text suggested.

Hagrid warned them to bend when a ivy curtain came in their way. The brunette girl whom Severus and Lily shared the boat with and who seemed to have played with her mother's makeup kit before her Hogwarts journey, flexed down afraid, probably wishing she won't damage the look of her face.

The boats entered some kind of underground tunnel, reaching a rocky and slippery area, somewhere under the castle.

The children followed Hagrid until they came out onto a meadow with wet grass.

The castle seemed even bigger from nearby, making the freshman students look like a group of ants eager to enter a huge mound of earth.

Hagrid banged hard in the massive oak door that opened to allow space for the unmistakable Professor McGonagall. Severus was sure she was that kind of teacher whom the boy with glasses and his friend could not mess up with.

"Thank you, Hagrid, I'm taking them from here." said the professor, researching her new candidates with her sharp eyes, which probably made some of the students feel less intimidated in front of the huge Hagrid, than in front of her.

Professor McGonagall led them into a wide hallway lit by torches and decorated by some time-deteriorated tapestries. She led them to a door as big as the one from the entrance, behind which there were buzzes that showed the presence of many people inside.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." she told them simply, "The banquet in your honor will begin in a few moments I would like to take, to set in some rules. As some of you may already know, Hogwarts is divided into its four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Each house you will be sorted into during the ceremony about to start, has produced some very outstanding wizards and witches (Severus could hear the eye-glasses boy sniffing skeptically). As long as you will be living here, the house you will be part of, will receive points based on your efforts and will lose points in case of deviations. At the end, the house with the most points will win the honorary House Cup, so make your house proud, since it will substitute your family for a while."

Severus knew that this "family" would hardly have a tough competition if it was to rival his family at home, but he still wasn't thrilled with the idea of being forced to share his privacy with so many strangers.

"Sev, how do you think they will sort us? Will they give us personality tests with multiple answers?"

Severus wasn't quite sure what the tests at Lily's old school consisted of, but he didn't want to spoil his surprise.

"You'll see," he said mysteriously.

Professor McGonagall opened the massive doors.

The Great Hall deserved its name all the way through. It was a delightful place, animated by candles floating above four long tables where older students sat in front of another table, where the teachers were. On the ceiling was the starry sky of the night, a magical illusion, especially considering that it was partly cloudy outside.

Professor McGonagall placed a stool before the line of agitated first-year students, and on it, a flattened, dirty, patched hat, Lily looked at it with the same intrigued enthusiasm she used while looking at Halloween decorations, her favorite holiday.

A rip opened wide, and the hat began to use it as a mouth. A song rang throughout the room:

_I am the enchanted hat, singing your name, Never in the world would you find one the same. I see young eyes wondering how A hat can know you another somehow. Four people were there at my creation, But today, before me stays an entire nation. Then is it even worth trying, With one above other shining? One had a lion heart Never leaving his friends in doubt, Other had a silver mind Could every question easily respond, The other was the opposite of a freezing night Kindness and loyalty making it bright. The last one sometimes believed himself above But cunning and dreaming still let his friends drove. And they are gone, I am left Houses to choose, kids to lift A destiny so many are counting on But never to forget the signification Where there are more, time is a celebration!_

The whole room burst into applause.

Professor McGonagall began to call the newcomers in alphabetical order. Each of them had nothing to do but put on their heads the hat that was going to shout out the name of the house they were meant to be part of. Before coming to Hogwarts, Severus had often wondered how could the hat know exactly where each child's personality best fit. Maybe it was reading their minds, but even so, what if someone felt like a Hufflepuff in his first year of school, when he was all new and shy, and by the fourth year, he would start to act more like a Gryffindor? People could change, did the hat know that?

"Avary, Alphard" called Professor McGonagall.

A quite tall boy quickly made his way among the first-year students and sat on the stool next to the professor, placing the hat that fell over his eyes, given his long, pointed head.

"SLYTHERIN!" was heard the voice of the magical Sorting Hat.

From the table next to one of the walls came some not very exuberant applause.

"Black, Sirius!"

It had come, after another three students, the turn of the eyeglass boy's unbearable accomplice. Severus noted, however, that the impertinent figure this boy had worn during his entire journey to the castle, had turned into a somewhat more uncertain face. But, the boy stopped halfway, resumed his bold eyebrows and made steady steps towards the stool, probably telling himself: _Let's get done with this!_

The hat stood a little longer on his head than the others' before.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Severus heard the eyeglasses boy, cheering loudly from the pack of children behind him. Sirius Black put satisfied the hat back on the stool before running to the table near the wall opposite the Slytherin table.

It didn't take long until Lily's turn came. Severus gave her an encouraging look, and the little girl approached the sorting hat with a mixture of curiosity and doubt in her eyes. The hat could barely reach her red head top before yelling out loud:

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Severus felt stroke into place. Of course he didn't consider Lily a coward, sure Lily sometimes ventured into places where her parents wouldn't let her go, and Severus would try to make her change her mind, but a Gryffindor? Lily was sweet, compassionate, otherwise clever, creative, resourceful. Even if she wasn't a Slytherin, her place was definitely anywhere but Gryffindor.

Lily threw him an apologetical glance before sitting down on the bench next to those with red details on their uniforms. She stood right next to Sirius Black, but turned away from him as soon as she realized it.

Remus was sorted almost as immediately as Lily in the same house as hers. The boy, however, did not seem determined at all to join his new colleagues, keeping a somewhat calculated expression until Lily tapped twice with her palm on the bench to signal him to sit next to her. Remus Lupin rewarded her with a small smile as he looked timidly at the older students sitting at the table, all around him.

But the most excited about joining that table was by far the eyeglass boy, now known as Potter James, who high-fived Sirius Black before taking his seat right next to him.

There was only a quarter of the beginners left when Professor McGonagall announced:

"Snape, Severus!"

Severus was taken unprepared. By then he had begun to surround his eyes through the Great Hall, from one table to another. The Gryffindors were the most talkative, closely followed by Hufflepuffs, while Ravenclaws and Slytherins kept themselves reserved, mixing only in discussions with one or two of their fellows. There was no doubt in which half Severus would have been better off.

"Ah, right then ..." Severus heard the mysterious voice of the magic hat when he put it on his head, "Hmmm, complicated boy, aren't we? Lots of mind ... an unshared love for everything that is peaceful and pure ... hmm ... but nothing compares to the desire within you, to the urge to cover yourself in the merit due to your abilities, things you, and only you, can do ... and you want to be recognized for them, hmmm ... "

Severus could not keep the notion of time in such crucial moments, only, judging by the buzz of the students whispering among each others, he realized that the hat took something longer to decide his case, though it was really obvious where it was heading.

The Sorting Hat was right, he really wanted the success he was hoping his own passions and efforts would bring him one day, but still, Lily's green eyes watching him so carefully that they were barely blinking, Lily, who was at the opposite side of the room to the Slytherin's table... Severus wondered how his friendship with Lily would look if he were to join the house that didn't support those from families like hers. Perhaps he could have continued to be her friend as close as before behind a green-decorated uniform, but didn't that mean he could have also kept his other old passions into the skin of a Gryffindor? He couldn't decide, and yet the Magic Hat seemed to overcome this problem.

"Then better be SLY-"

Wait!" Severus shouted in his mind, closing his eyes and almost without considering, "What if you're wrong? What if you don't look far enough? All the consequences ... "

"Hesitating, aye?" the hat asked, "Courage to impose your own point of view, not to obey, the only piece that was missing and then your path ... GRYFFINDOR!"

* * *

AN/ I think this is the shortest chapter, and probably the one I am least proud of, manly because I had to repeat a lot of things from the first Harry Potter book. But I didn't really had a choice. The first-year students arrival is a pretty steady thing. Anyway, what I liked was writing Remus,is quite cute to imagine him as a kid. The chant of the hat wasn't very easy to translate from romanian to english while keeping both the rimes and the meaning at the same time, but it kinda was a fun process.

Oh, and yeah, this is where I changed Severus' destiny, and therefor the events of the original story of this will see soon why this is such a plot convenience for a fanfic.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

\- Let Me Hear You Roar –

The whole hall was silent for a few seconds, with many faces looking puzzled at Severus. The Gryffindor table began to acclaim him after all, along with a few Hufflepuffs while some of the Slytherins wrinkled their noses, and Ravenclaws stared at him curiously. A pair of gray eyes were also looking intrigued at him from the Slytherin table, from the silky, sharp face of an older boy, with hair even longer than Sirius Black's, kept in a silver-blonde pony tail and tight up with a royal-blue bow.

But the most raised at him were the eyebrows of Professor McGonagall to whom Severus had handed the Sorting Hat.

Lily and Remus made him room between them. Severus barely could reach the bench when he felt embraced by Lily's warm hands.

"Oh, Sev! I'm so glad you're with me!"

"I ... I would have been anyway, Lily, no matter where I would have gotten ..." Sev said almost suffocated.

"Hey, kid, you know you didn't got Hufflepuff, right?" laughed a girl from an older year with red hair, lighter in color than Lily's, eyes as blue as a lake in the sunlight and natural cherry lips.

"Yeah, Snivy, and by the way, how about '_You'd better be in Slytherin'_?" James Potter mocked him.

"Huh, yeah, you almost did it there, didn't you? I wonder why did the Hat change his mind like that, on the last moment?" said Sirius Balck, turning to look at the magical hat that was now sorting out a little girl from the last eight remaining children.

"It was kind of weird." Remus Lupin also intervened, supporting his arms on the table and nearing Severus, "I mean, throughout the entire history of the houses, usually the word of the Hat is unanimous, usually he doesn't change his mind."

"Quite rarely, I would say." a new and strange voice was heard.

The children began to look surprised around, to find out where it was coming from. The voice sounded as if it were at the end of a very deep tunnel.

There was also a high pitched scream, and that short, round, scaredy little boy who, quite curious, had also ended up in the Gryffindor house, moved agitated away from his plate, empty except for a diffused man's head with a folded collar that went straight through it.

"Hm, I understand you had a nice summer, Sir Nicholas?" asked the older girl very casually.

"If you can call Friar's endless rumblings about his vacations on the beach of Venezuela from his lifetime a nice summer, then yes, Lady Rakepick." said Sir Nicolas, turning his eyes to the chubby ghost who was hovering above the Hufflepuff table, embracing each newcomer - pupils who looked as if they frozen spines after he was finishing with them, "I almost miss the Baron ..."

"Oh, wasn't he the one near the forest?" asked Lily, who seemed to have had familiarized herself with the idea of ghost existence.

"Yes, this is his most recent habit ..." sighed Sir Nicolas.

And rightly so, the Slytherin table was devoid of any ghost, just like the Ravenclaw table.

"But anyway, in all the centuries since I am here, usually the Hat is not hesitating, unless he really has a lot to pick from." the ghost stared at Severus with his dead eyes, but still a little warmer than the ones of the Bloody Baron.

And several eyes at the table followed his example, though Potter's only rolled unconvinced.

Even if what Hat had said about his desire for success was true, Severus didn't feel too comfortable in the spotlight. Then it was pretty satisfying as the last student, Zamfiri Benson, was sorted at Ravenclaw, and an old wizard with a long, white beard rose from the headmaster's chair, opening his arms wide and wishing them cheerfully:

"Welcome to Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, dear wizards and witches! Before I start the feast I want to add just a few more words: Speeders. Whims. Nerds. Cheaters. Thank you."

He sat down again, leaving the whole room in a roar of applause.

"Is it him? Is he Albus Dumbledore?" asked Lily.

"Yes, I told you to imagine him as the more supple cousin of Santa Claus ..." Sev whispered with a facial expression too serious in relation to what he had just said.

Lily smiled, covering her mouth with her hand before noticing that, throughout the length of the table, the trays were all suddenly filled with many different kinds of dishes.

Potter and his partner had already taken over the meat compound elements. Normally Severus would have added here: '_Typical Gryffindor appetite'_, but now it would have just been ... ironic.

After a train trip, a boat ride and a whole hall staring at him, Severus had kind of lost his lust, resorting to some simple baked potatoes and salad (not too popular around the kids at this table), while Lily was studying a cob of roasted corn, wishing to discover the magical system that had made it appear earlier out of nowhere.

"Oh, brother, my folks won't believe me when I'm going to snap at them where I got!" laughed Sirius Black.

"Eh, it's not a big deal for me, the family tradition, a bit predictable but hey, there's no better house, so I'm not complaining!" said James Potter, "Hey, what about Snivellus? Would your parents be disappointed you're in Gryffindor?"

"Hey, would you leave him alone already? Are you really that bored you can't mind your own business?" Lily defended him yet once again.

"Oohoho! At least we know why they put you in here ... Evans, is it?" Potter said wickedly.

Lily let out an angry _'Hmph!'_, except she had nowhere to withdraw from the two boys this time.

"From what I see so far, it seems to me that you all fit in here, newbies," said the older, red-haired girl, walking her eyes from James Potter to Severus and then to Remus Lupin's scars that were giving him a tough boy appearance.

"Uh, does it contain peanuts?" asked the little, round boy, digging with his fork through his spicy mashed potatoes, "I'm allergic to peanuts."

"Eh, almost all of you," she changed her mind a bit.

Lily was happy to find out, when the turn for dessert came, that the Wizarding World also produced strawberry pies like her father's, while Remus Lupin had chosen a very consistent slice of chocolate cake.

"Excellent! Now that you have all calmed down your tummies ..." stood up again Albus Dumbledore, "I would like to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is strictly banned to all who do not want to risk a death not at all conventional and quite unpleasant."

The red-haired girl with blue eyes made a bored sound, wrapping her hands around her body.

"And I would like to remind you that Mr. Pringle, our caretaker, explicitly asked me to ban the use of the Bee-Frisbees both indoors and in the yard. And now, before we all go to bed, let's all get up to sing together our beloved school anthem!"

Oh no, no way! Not even the most formidable wizard in the world could have made Severus Snape sing. Lily was having fun however, trying to guess the words that would follow at the end of each verse before being spoken, and so that it would rhyme, for no first-year student knew the lyrics of the hymn just yet.

"Ahhh, music, the most real magic of all, hmm, maybe I should add it to the compulsory curriculum." Dumbledore said thoughtfully, but at the hesitant faces all over the room: "Stay calm, just kidding."

Olivia Braggle, their Prefect and also the same braided haired girl who set rules for Severus' on the train, led the group of Gryffindors beginners to their tower.

On the way down the aisles, Lily watched in amazement as the characters in the paintings were looking interested at them, or as those in the image depicting a lecture club were scouring the pages of their books and were whispering concentrated among each other.

At the end of the corridor was another portrait of a very fat woman dressed in a pink dress. She looked at the freshmen with some sympathy, but said firmly:

"Password?"

"Flying pineapple." said Olivia with dignity.

The painting moved away, and the children slipped through a hole in the wall leading them to a room that looked comfortable, warm, though somewhat disordered, with many armchairs that seemed soft at touch, a few round tables for study, a wide fireplace with friendly flames, and tapestries with the symbol of a golden lion.

The Prefect then intended to separate the boys from girls into each other's bedrooms.

"Uh, can't we stay here a little longer, to take a look?" Lily asked, grabbing Severus by the sleeve as if she feared Olivia would force him away from her.

"But it's your first night, you should settle in."

"Oh, stop spoiling the kids' fun, Braggle." came in the redheaded girl, who looked about the same year as the Prefect, before throwing herself carelessly into the nearest armchair.

Olivia made a sharp, indignant sound, turned her back on them and went up the circular stairs leading to the girls' bedrooms.

Lily looked gratefully at the girl who had defended them, but she ignored her completely, staring contemplatively at the flames from the fireplace.

"It's so nice here!" Lily said, opening her hands up high.

"Do you mean the castle, or the Gryffindor tower?" Severus asked not very attentive, checking the title of one of the books abandoned on one of the reading tables.

"Everything!"

The teenage Gryffindors threw some kind of back-to-school-party, unraveling some Filibuster Fireworks exploding in the shape of a lion's head, eating jellies that made them roar like lions, or other things that didn't necessarily had to do anything with lions, like telling stories from their vacation at a Butterbeer toast. Lily and Severus were the youngest in the room, but the others didn't pay attention to them. They were standing in front of a window with their knees close to their bodies as they used to sit when they were chatting quietly among the trees by the river, though the sounds that now replaced the songs of birds and wind-blown branches made their conversation a little more difficult.

"Sev! What is this song called?" Lily screamed in order to be heard while a song with words not very clear, since they were sounding more like growls, rang throughout the room.

"I told you, Lily, I was never a fan of magic rock!" Severus recalled, catching his shaking head between his hands.

"Maybe it's time to go to bed anyway!" Lily suggested, taking, however, a last glance through the window behind which she had admired until then, the castle towers in the dark of the night.

Severus positioned himself toward the same window. It was easy for Lily to say that. She didn't have to share her bedroom with James Potter or Sirius Black. For a moment he wondered if his decision was really deserving the sacrifice, but Lily, giving him a good-night hug, had kind of answered his doubt.

He was left alone surrounded by students who made him feel small and not only because of the considerable height difference, but he felt small especially because Lily was no longer there, beside him.

So he walked subtly, trying not to attract other's attention. The noise from the lower-floor assembly could be heard just as loudly when Severus had climbed the stairs and reached the door of the first-year boys' dormitory.

He opened the door slowly, knowing that he hoped in vain the others had already gone to sleep. A jet of red light missed his ear at the limit.

"Hey!" he said angrily at James Potter, who was kneeling down in one of the beds, seemingly casting spells at random, "Have you completely ran out of your minds?"

"Ah, there you were, Snivellus. For a moment I thought you got lost in the tower." said James Potter, lowering his wand.

The round little boy chuckled from his bed, from where he was staring at James, but turned his laugh into a fake cough when he met Severus's dark gaze aimed at him.

"You could have hit me," Severus continued with a forced calmness.

"Oh, big deal! It was a harmless charm, you baby!" James pointed out, turning to Sirius Balck, who was perched on the trunk in front of his bed.

Black's hair was a bright kind of red, giving him a lion's mane appearance and he seemed quite proud of it, studying himself into a small, portable mirror.

Severus looked at him with the same disgust a grumpy, old man would have looked at a band of teenagers with unconventional ridges.

"I think I prefer my hair the way it is, Potter."

"Oh, really?" Potter laughed. "Say, when was the last time you took a shower, Snivy, last Christmas?"

"But when was the last time you saw a comb, when you took your first steps?" Severus replied.

Potter got red with fury so that he was matching Sirius's hair perfectly, but both him and Severus quickly turned their heads at the muffled laughter coming from somewhere near the window.

Remus Lupin had been distracted from the continuation of his train book by the exchange of replies of his roommates.

"Uh, sorry ..." he said, covering his still existing smile with his palm.

"He's right, dudes. Probably this is exactly what the girls are doing right now in their bedroom, they criticize each other's hairstyles."

"Said the boy who looks like the stop light." Severus pointed out, wrapping his robes a little closer around his body.

"Like ... what?" Black raised an eyebrow.

Severus rolled his eyes - of course ... Pure-Bloods.

Giving up completely any sleep related plan after the two buffoons had taken out some jellies like the ones in the room below and started some kind of competition for the most noisy, long, or whatever, noise, and that little boy, whom the other two were calling Peter, was sitting in the middle, meaning he was playing the referee, Severus was forced to approach the only relatively mental-stable person in that bedroom. He sat next to Remus Lupin with his own book, determined not to speak to him at all, hoping that the kid would understand by himself the 'little library corner' concept. Apparently ... not.

"Dementors?" he saw the book with the dark cover, Severus was hiding behind.

Severus mumbled a 'Mm...' without letting the book down.

"My father works at the Ministry. He deals with the control of magical creatures," obviously the boy did not catch the message behind Severus's mood-less tone ... "He told me a lot about Dementors. He thinks they are the worst possible living-beings, if you can even call them living-beings. And I think he's right, don't you? I mean, what other creature can cause you something worse than death?"

Severus lowered his book with a tiny spark of interest.

"But my mom says it's not a proper topic before bedtime."

Funny. Well Severus' mother had said: "Take this book, Severus. It will initiate you in life because you can never know who or what is watching you in the dark and into the unpredictable shadows of the night. Danger never sleeps, my son, so neither should you!" Hmm, Severus wondered which maternal psychology was better.

"Then what does your mother expect me to read? '_The Magic of Beautiful Unicorns_'? '_101 Roles of the Rainbows'_?"

Remus Lupin covered again his laughter, but he turned back to his lecture, finally giving Severus the peace and quiet he wanted from him from the very beginning, only to find it impossible to concentrate when the Roars Championship reached the semifinals.

When he finally got to sleep, his ears buried in his pillow (Sirius Black was snoring like a chainsaw), Severus had dreamed about running away from lions through the savanna, lions telling him he was not worthy to be part of their group. Then he jumped into the nearest lake to save his life. The water was surprisingly cold for a lake in the savanna, and suddenly he felt himself drown deep into the tentacles of the giant squid. He was sucked into the squid's mouth and the next moment, spit out of the Magic Sorting Hat who was shouting endlessly: HUFFLEPUFF! HUFFLEPUFF!

He woke up disoriented. It was still dark, Black was still snoring and the lion on the upholstery on the wall next to little Pete's bed was not biting him. Severus had chosen the bed next to the other wall, so he had only one neighbor - Remus, who also had a rather restless sleep, rolling under his blankets. Severus pulled the curtains around his bed. They didn't quite quell the snoring, but at least they were offering him some sense of personal space.

The sun was pretty weak the following morning. It was enough, however, to wake Severus up. Remus Lupin's bed was already empty, but Potter was sleeping deeply, his circular frames glasses resting on the nightstand beside him. And in the bed next to James Potter, Sirius Black had finally moved on his other side, so there was no sound left from him other than some strong, pillow-muffled breath. Severus wondered how could he had been the only one disturbed by the noise at night, watching almost jealously Peter rolling comfortably into his soft sheets, causing Severus to remember the hamster Petunia had to take care of as a school task once, and Lily had laid it in her own bed, because, she was saying, the cage was too tight.

At least this gave Severus the opportunity to put on his uniform. Each Gryffindor had received a red and gold striped tie to replace the black one they had used at the Sorting Ceremony, and a color-matching scarf. Severus was surprised to find out that the collar and the inside of his robe's hood had also become red. Perhaps it was a special mechanism all the robes in Madam Malkin's shop were spellbound to change once the Sorting Hat would give his final word. That, or someone had come to bewitch their robes during the night when he and the others were asleep. Severus would have been more comfortable with the first version. On the robe's chest was even sewn the symbol of the golden lion on the shield-like shape.

Well, now Severus knew he couldn't go back. He was a Gryffindor, or at least he looked like one. Severus was the least brawny person he knew, even Lily was better at opening the tight lids of the compote jars and he could swear he had seen a few dumbbells hidden among the underwear in James's trunk. Still, he had no ambition to even try to follow that pattern. Just because he lived in the Griffindor tower, wearing the Gryffindor uniform and was surrounded by Gryffindors, that didn't mean he couldn't learn like a Ravenclaw, that he couldn't play with Lily like a Hufflepuff, or that he couldn't think like a Slytherin.

Those thoughts caught him until he descended into the Common Room that was still empty except for a single occupied seat at one of the reading tables where Severus could recognize Remus Lupin's still messy from slumber nape. He was resting his head on his arms. Severus approached him slowly, noticing that Remus' closed eyes were outlined by thin, black circles. So after all, he wasn't the only one who had trouble sleeping.

"H-hey ..." Remus said, opening his eyes very slowly.

He rubbed them with his fists letting out a long yawn. Unlike Severus, Remus was still dressed in his pajamas with a colorful pattern of puppy paws.

"Did you sleep well?" Remus asked.

"No." Severus was honest and direct.

"Oh. Yeah, me neither ... "

"We could ... try a silence spell for Black." Severus suggested without joking.

"What? Oh no, ... it's just ... I think I am a little ... homesick."

Severus looked at him curiously. Surely this problem could not reach him, no matter how annoying his new roommates were, anywhere was better than on the grim Spinners End.

"Well, maybe it would help if you had something to remind you of home. Uh, didn't you accidentally bring a teddy bear or a blanket maybe?"

Remus Lupin looked at him alertly, probably thinking Severus was mocking him, but, noticing the seriousness he was talking with, he probably understood that this was not his intention.

"Well I ... I have a puppy." Remus stretched over the table to whisper.

"Ah, really? And what's his name?"

Now Remus truly seemed made fun of, but the corners of Severus's lips did not rise up at all.

"B ... Buck." Remus whispered even quieter.

Just then, two girls who looked about year 3 or 4 went down the stairs and Remus blushed.

But Severus didn't pay any attention to them.

"Well you could use him then."

Remus nodded hastily with an embarrassed smile. The girls turned to them. Probably what they had gotten from the conversation made Severus sound suspicious because Remus seemed to improvise:

"Oh, but he's such an old friend of mine, I'm sure he'll be happy to help me."

"Well, surely you won't have trouble sleeping with him next to you."

And the strange eyes turned on the faces of the two girls.

"Thank you very much for the advice, Severus, uh, I think I have to go upstairs to get dressed, uh, look how late it's gotten already!" Remus excused himself as he hurried to the bedroom.

With Remus gone, the girls then turned to Severus who raised an eyebrow at them. They caught his nonverbal message and kept minding their own business.

Gradually, the room got filled with students who made quite lazy movements. As it was only the first day of school, no one had anything to prepare for the classes to come. Suddenly, Severus woke up with claws stuck into the back of his robe and a with a hairy weight that then clung to his shoulder.

"Oh, sorry, Sev!" Lily ran down the stairs, retrieving Crookshanks who started purring near his ear.

"It's fine." Severus accepted, shaking the orange hair off his shoulder.

"Sev, Sev! You won't believe this! I met this girl, her name is Mary and guess what, her parents aren't wizards at all, just like mine, and she like cartoons too, and Kung-Fu Kangaroo, oh, and tropical pizza! But how were you? I hope that Potter didn't trouble you."

"Well, he didn't bewitched me while I was asleep, so I can say it's a start."

* * *

"Lily, we'll be late!" Severus once more warned her, trying to keep up with her on the hallways.

Lily had insisted she wanted to explore the castle, but Severus didn't want to risk tardiness for their first class of Transfiguration, especially after he learned Minerva McGonagall was the teacher. He had a bad feeling she won't tolerate such thing, even though she was the head of their house.

"Oh, look, another one!" Lily said, approaching an armor and grabbing its glove.

"I told you, the armors don't move. Now can we please go?"

"Sev. I refuse to believe that in a castle where the people in the paintings live, the armors don't." Lily said solemnly, waving to the paunchy duke from the painting next to the armor, who answered her back.

"But they don't. Lily, I'm serious. We have our class with Professor McGonagall."

"Oh, but she seemed nice."

"No, she didn't."

Lily shook her head amused.

"Seriously, Sev, you have to be braver than that. After all, you've been put into Gryffindor." she highlighted.

"What? You ... you think I'm not brave?"

"Oh, Sev, forgive me, I didn't want it to sound like that. It's just ... you always stress so much about everything. We're here, Sev, just like we wished. I want to see you more relaxed." Lily said, ruffling his hair.

But Sev wasn't worried, he was just cautious, which was totally another story. Although he knew how much Lily liked to see him smiling, he was more than sure Professor McGonagall wouldn't smile at all when they'll get to her class.

And obviously ... it didn't happen.

"What a luck fell on us now that you decided to finally delight us with your presence"

Severus gave Lily a small nudge in her shoulder because her lively eyes were distracted by the toucan in a cage, the teacher must have used as a transfiguration test-subject.

"We apologize, Professor. We kind of got lost on the halls "- intentionally- Severus would have added.

The sharp gaze of the professor didn't release them.

"I assume it won't happen again then," she said, gesturing with one of her hands to the empty bench closest to the writing board.

The rest of the hour hadn't gone on too well either, because they had done nothing but read the introductory chapters, then the theory of how to turn a button into a small ball, which the teacher had promised however to put into practice next time. Severus had to admit though, Transfiguration always seemed to him the most difficult of all learning matters.

In contrast, the 'History of Magic' classes seemed rather simple, perhaps because Professor Binns had such a boring and slow voice when lecturing, that if you were not fast asleep like Sirius who was 'meditating' behind his tall book, then the information could make its way into the brain like a very light and soothing breeze. But Lily seemed more captivated by the simple fact Professor Binns was a ghost. James laughed when they were all waiting in line in front of his classroom, saying that Professor Binns was very old, when, once falling asleep into the staffroom, he had never woken up again and continued his job as if nothing had happened. The lesson was interrupted when the teacher began to snore in the air.

"I didn't know ghosts need sleep," Lily whispered.

"I don't know if he does. Maybe he just likes it." Severus said, watching the Ravenclaw boy who, in order to find out if he had any reaction, was throwing with pencils and a eraser that went straight through the teacher.

But the course of that day, Lily and Severus felt best at, had been by far Herbology - one of the few classes they needed to go outside for, into the greenhouses near the castle. They were surrounded by lots of eccentric plants. Some of them were clinging with their leaves, others were hissing as if they were snakes, and some were changing their color depending on how much light was reaching them.

Lily was having fun blowing between her the fingers some sort of bladders on a tall stalk, with an orange and viscous substance coming out of them, about which Professor Sprout, who was short, plump and had a warm smile, told them it played an important role in creating the potions used for those who have lost far too much blood.

They had escaped that day with very little homework, though Severus intended to finish reading at least the chapter in the middle of which Professor Binns had fallen asleep. Lily started laughing as she read the 'Goblin Independence Accord' title.

"I don't know Sev, I mean, at my old school there were always these accord things. Heh, I can only imagine Miss Vanessa's face if I added 'Goblin' before one of them."

"Lily, goblins don't like to be laugh at."

"Oh, you tell me. When my dad asked one of them at the bank how many grams of gold make 10 pounds, he almost stabbed his nose with his quill."

"That's because goblins become very sensitive when it comes about their gold. They value it more than anything else."

"Hm, well maybe they'd look happier if they didn't." Lily said confidently.

They were sitting again in the Common Room where it was quieter than the night before, since the older students got bombarded with far more homework than them.

There was the characteristic squeak of the portrait of the Fat Lady and the red-haired girl who had convinced their Prefect to let them stay there last night, slipped through the hole and threw frustrated her negligently closed backpack on one of the empty armchairs.

"Starting from the very first day this year around, eh Patricia?" a blond boy with a small, round nose asked her with a crooked smile.

"This has nothing to do with you, Lynch." Patricia growled, curling her nose at sight of the crowded room, then grabbing her bag and making pressed steps up to the bedrooms.

Severus suspected that the girl had just come out from detention because it was past the time even the older students were allowed to wonder down the halls.

This time, he had been more cautious when he opened the boys' bedroom door. No spell was randomly flying in his direction, but when he closed the door, he felt something big and soft hitting his back.

He bent down to lift the pillow that landed near his shoe, staring straight at James Potter's bed.

"This was intentional."

"Maaaaaybe..." James smiled innocently.

Severus slammed the pillow back onto the floor, then stepped frowning toward the bed next to the wall.

"Uuuuuh, Snivellus has attitude." Sirius accompanied them.

"Yeah, Snivy, you know, the idea is that when someone throws a pillow at you, you throw it back at him."

"I'm not going to take part in such an irrelevant activity, Potter." Severus said, taking off his shoes.

"Irrelevant? Since when is fun irrelevant?" Potter asked, walking after the pillow abandoned by Severus.

"Some people find fun in different things," Severus said, looking at Remus who was reading back in his corner.

"They just pillows, you wet blanket," Sirius said, passing a hand through the hair that was at his usual black this night.

"And what? Maybe I had a strong allergy to feathers."

"Do you?" James asked curiously.

"No, but I could have had. You should consider before you act. Good night!" Severus said before pulling the curtains around his bed vigorously.

"What, already?"

"Pfff ... Okay, Princess." - was the only left thing Severus could distinguish behind the red curtains.

Black was less noisy that night, but the lions had not left Severus's dreams. Only now they were sounding like Black and Potter and running after him holding a pink dress in their muzzles and threatening to put it on him. The two lions got left a little behind, and Severus struck into a beautiful antelope. The antelope spoke in Lily's voice: "You're not brave enough to be a Gryffindor, Sev".

Sev awoke with a cold sweat on his forehead. Since when did he assess courage so high? Courage was not far away from stupidity, compromise without thinking twice, and Potter and Black were the living proof for that.

Feeling partially suffocated, Severus threw the curtains aside. The curtains were drawn around Remus's bed, too. He seemed to be sleeping much more peacefully that night, and Severus wondered if he had listened to his advice and if he was hugging his stuffed puppy right then. And if he was doing so, he most likely pulled the curtains to hide it from Potter and Black. Well, in that case, Remus Lupin was far less courageous than him, because Severus was brave enough to be himself before them. Yeah, that was it. Severus fell asleep again with this thought in his head, forcing himself to also believe in it.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter VI

\- Snake venom –

If Lily was fascinated by Professor Binns' transparent appearance, then she has been at least astonished by the tiny stature of their 'Charms' teacher, Professor Flitwick, who had to sit on a pile of books in order to see over his desk. The teacher had left Lily a pretty good impression especially for the encouraging manner he was lecturing them which. He was one of those teachers too mild to punish in ways too strong, so instead of making any observation to Potter and Black throwing paper airplanes directly at Severus's neck, Professor Flitwick began to comment on how, for their next class, it would have been fascinating if they had all learned how to make airplanes float in the air without them being thrown. He even had the nerve to praise the two for the 'creativity of the idea they inspired him with'.

After the course, Lily began talking about how such short people also existed in their home world, but Severus tried to explain to her that, most likely, their teacher was half goblin.

"But he seemed nice, not like those Gringotts goblins."

"Well, it means he had inherited more from his human side. It can happen. I mean you remember Hagrid, don't you? I'm sure he is half giant. And you remember 'Jack and the Beanstalk' because one thing got right that muggle story: real giants are not very different from the one in there - brutal and mindless," Severus proved.

"But Hagrid was alright."

"Exactly. I guess it only matters which half you choose to let become the dominant one."

"Oh, just like how you're a half-blood?"

"And I choose to think like a wizard, not like a muggle."

Lily paused her footsteps.

"Sev, then I ..."

"Oh, Lily, that's not what I meant. You are a witch, and you will be able to choose to live in the world you like best."

Lily regained her lively hopping.

"Oooooor, I could choose them both."

Sev looked at her thoughtfully. How many times had he wondered what was his mother thinking when she had chosen the Muggle world over the Wizarding one. But if he were to consider better, Lily had more positive than negative experiences into the world of the muggles. Then it was pretty clear why she wouldn't really want to give up on it completely like Severus was already planning to do for himself.

They were heading to their first Potions class. Those were held in the castle's undergrounds, also known as - the Dungeons. There were dark hallways with a damp appearance. Severus knew this was the area of the castle where the Slytherins' rooms were placed. He couldn't say he wouldn't have liked it to live in here. He always had a passion for tunnels and caves, and the atmosphere of this place reminded him of them quite well. It looked mysterious, so he barely even noticed his Gryffindor colleagues starting chatter their teeth, not at all used to the coolness around. It was the first course they had in common with the Slytherins.

A black wooden door slammed against the wall and behind it appeared a fat, aged man with a baldness start, wearing elegant clothes.

"Welcome" he greeted them gladly.

The 'Potions' class room resembled in many ways to Severus his mother's secret lab, except there were even more long stone tables and more tools and ingredients crammed upon shelves and displayed lockers, so they'll be enough for everyone.

This professor, Slughorn, added a few words about the fine and subtle art 'Potions' were. Surrounded by glasses and vials, Lily remembered her old chemistry classes but Severus assured her she won't have to learn any periodic tables here, things she had never liked.

The teacher divided them into pairs and gave them a simple introductory potion to make- an elixir for sinus cleaning. Severus had a lot of knowledge about potions, but mostly theoretical since his mother didn't accept his help except with the easiest, safest, and easy-to-replace elixirs she was preparing. Still, he had memorized almost each one of her moves.

Lily was cutting the fire onions into incredibly precise pieces while Severus chopped the lynx claws into a mortar until they became a very fine powder. The onions made Lily's eyes tear up, but she did not accept Severus taking over her work. Severus compensated her effort then, by offering to be the one dealing with the sea urchins. However, they both seemed to have paid too much attention to every single detail in the instructions because most of the others were already done when they were still mixing, counting each circle into their smoking cauldron.

Professor Slughorn was pacing among the cauldrons, but he wasn't exactly impressed with what he was seeing so far.

"Alas, I think you added the Hippogriff feathers before adding the mint leaves," he said as he reached the potion from Remus' and Peter's cauldron, which wasn't smoking at all.

Remus threw a bored face at Peter who could not see him because he was bending over the substance as if he wanted to see the ingredients Slughorn had mentioned, even though they were already homogenized.

And of course, James teamed up with Sirius, and Severus had the impression they were having fun intentionally adding everything that wasn't on the list, because their mix was boiling in a threatening way.

"Ah, pretty good, Mister- Avery, am I right? Ah yes, your father was also a Slytherin of mine, quite remarkable at 'Potions', yes, but especially at 'Charms', also a quite talented flyer, ah, a Chaser?"

"No, a Beater," Avery corrected with what sounded like pride.

"Do you think it's okay, Sev? The book said violet, this is more like ... lilac."

"Well, they didn't specify exactly what kind of violet," Severus said, taking the book and reading the descriptions for himself.

"Oh, but what do we have here?" came the teacher closer to their cauldron, the last one left unchecked, "Yes yes, this is what the final mix must look like, children! Oh, yes, the steam emanated, yes, the right temperature and essence. Very good very good, the both of you! Ten points to Gryffindor!"

Lily smiled. No one had earned any points for their house until then, except for that annoying girl, Emilia Emerald, who didn't stop exposing her knowledge at 'Transfiguration' by raising her hand every two minutes.

"Oh, but maybe your parents were also among my top students, hmm, I feel like I've seen those eyes somewhere before," Slughorn noted more closely Severus' particularities.

"Oh, yes, my mother, Eileen Prince. These were her favorite classes, sir. "

"Ah, little Eilly, a responsible, quiet child. Ah, and you, Miss? "

"No, actually no, Professor. You see, my parents didn't learn here, I mean they didn't have to, they aren't wizards," Lily clarified without losing her serene smile.

"Oh," Professor Slughorn's smile fell instead.

Severus bit his lower lip as some of the Slytherin students turned their heads in Lily's direction.

"Well, in any case, I can say that you two make an amazing team."

"Oh, that's for sure!" Lily said, putting her hand on Severus' shoulder.

Just as they had finished the potion last, Lily and Severus had been the last ones to leave the room, trying their very best to organize each instrument accurately.

"It was even more fun than 'Herbology'!" Lily said as they walked out the door.

"Ah, really? I bet they didn't teach you this at your muggle school, eh?" a cold voice came from the shady corner of the hallway where a girl in Slytherin uniform stood.

"Oh no. But we did Chemistry, oh, and we also had a flower garden in the yard that the teacher would ask us to take care of!" Lily replied just as energetically as she was before.

But Severus didn't have the same optimistic expectations regarding this intruder. The girl had very dark brown hair, kept into two small and sharp looking pony-tails that reminded him of the sea urchins which had left a few scratches on his fingers. Her eyes were night blue and she had a wicked smile on her thick lips.

"Well well, but you seem to miss it a lot. Maybe you should have stayed there then."

"Wait what?" Lily finally seemed to notice that something was wrong.

"I'm just saying, maybe our school would have been better off without those of your kind around here."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Without those who will pull all of us down, will stain our image, without you little Mudbl..."

"Don't!" Severus stopped her.

"Excuse me?" The girl raised a bushy eyebrow, taking a step toward Severus.

"I won't let you use that word! It got out of use for a reason. Only those with backward thinking use it still," Severus continued, gradually forcing his tone to remain relatively low.

"Backward, eh? No one asked for your opinion, Locksie!" She said, bouncing Severus' black hair into her hand. "Hey, I know who you are. That kid who almost got sorted into Slytherin. The Hat should have better finish his word because then you'd have learned by now that some ideas can be taken out from the past and be turned into something revolutionary."

Lily was moving her eyes from one to another as if the other two freshmen were having a simple political debate. But Severus knew that political debates were rarely leading to any agreement.

"This has nothing to do with the sorting. Lily is my friend and she has always been. "

"You associate yourself with the wrong kind! After those like her will fall, those who tolerate their dirt will be next!"

"Too bad then. Because if that is the case, then I will not cease to stand before those like you," Severus said in a very low, dangerous voice that came as a whisper close to her ear.

The girl drew back, looking almost ... impressed?

"Hm, or maybe the Hat wasn't wrong after all... Do you know why? A Slytherin is smart enough to mind his own business, not to risk his skin for those who obviously don't worth it," said the girl, eyeing Lily again.

"Then it's a good thing us Gryffindors watch each other's backs," Lily intervened, coming near Severus.

Lily also frowned at the Slytherin who, regaining her voice, added in a dense whisper:

"You're both playing with fire."

She turned her back on them, heading for her house's rooms.

Severus, however, did not move a single muscle from where he was standing. Lily's words were heavily making their way into his mind. Did the Magic Hat predicted such a scene? Did he know that he didn't have to choose between two houses, but between two war factions? And did he put him into the right one then? Wouldn't Lily have been easier to protect if he were to act from inside the enemy clan?

"I think we shut her mouth up. Sev, but what was this all about?"

Sev sighed, closing his eyes. Maybe deep down in his heart he knew it was impossible to postpone this conversation forever. And maybe it was best for Lily to hear it from a friend, not from someone else. Then he motioned for her to follow him, to tell the story better on the go.

"Do you remember what that Lupin boy said back on the train? About how the founder of Slytherin was obsessed with the purity of sorcerer's blood?"

Lily affirmed briefly from her chin.

"He wasn't the only one, he was just the first. Salazar Slytherin had a very bad vision on muggles, so then that hatred began to spread on the witches and wizards born in their families. He did not see the same magic potential in them that was seeing in the rest of the students forming the first generation here, at Hogwarts. He didn't even want to share his knowledge with the muggle-borns, and so a breakup between him and the other three founders appeared."

"Did the others equalize everyone?" Lily asked curiously.

"Well, Helga Hufflepuff always, Godric Gryffindor had his morals and he didn't forgive those who were, in his opinion, unfair, and Rowana Ravenclaw had her standards too, so the students she favored worked and learned very hard. But the students who chose to follow Salazar instead, soon began to believe completely in his vision and to transmit it to the small Wizarding World from back then. Those who believed him believed in a world where wizards would finally rise above the muggles who had oppressed them and forced them to hide for all those years. So you realize. At that time it sounded extremely attractive."

"Yes but ... not all muggles are like that ..."

"Maybe not, Lily. But muggles attack when they are afraid ... and they are afraid of everything they do not understand."

Lily flinched. Severus knew that they were both thinking about Petunia.

"Anyway, Salazar was convinced that with or without magic, the muggle-borns did not detach themselves from the mentality of their parents, he thought that they would draw those already familiar with the miraculous paths back with them. And to this day the tradition has continued, as some of those with purely wizarding blood look upon those with muggle relations from high above, though they have almost never compared their magical abilities to theirs, no. It is said that ever since then, they have found ways to discourage them, threatening to attack even their non-magical family members if necessary."

Lily muffled a small gasp. Severus wondered if he got too far with the last part. What kind of dark thoughts must he have caused Lily? Maybe it would keep her awake all night or make her send hundreds of owls home just to be able to constantly check up her parents. And even if Petunia's reaction in that scenario was pretty funny to imagine, Severus would have preferred not to subject Lily to something like that.

"But that was a long time ago. You don't have to worry."

"But ... that Slytherin girl ... she still believes. What if others do the same?"

"Oh, Lily. She probably comes from an old family of pure wizards who live with their minds behind. These days, whether they like it or not, those like her must obey the will of the majority of the Wizarding World. And Lily, I assure you, most wizards are not wondering what kind of blood those they encounter have, and some even find muggles fascinating," he tried to comfort her.

"R-really?"

"Yeah. Don't listen to those like her. Maybe she was just upset you got a much better potion than hers."

Lily smiled.

"It was a team effort."

They had reached the courtyard, crossing the surroundings of the lake where the sun was reflecting. But Lily's smile faded quickly.

"Sev, but when I asked you before we came to Hogwarts ... I asked you, do you remember? If having muggle parents matters, and you said no ... Why?"

Severus also remembered the worried look Lily was wearing when she had put him that question and he had lied just to protect her, but now ...

"Because it doesn't matter to me," he said firmly.

Lily's face lit up again as she embraced him gratefully under the shade of the tree by the lake, the tree that reminded Severus of their little creek.

* * *

If there was one thing Severus really didn't understand, then that was flying on broomsticks. As a child raised among muggles, he had as little experience in the domain as Lily did. The one who couldn't have been any more enthusiastic about their first flight, however, was James Potter.

James had spent the entire night from before, praising himself on how well he could already fly, on his father's talent at Quidditch, or on how he was excited to make them all a demonstration. Severus just let out an annoyed sound from the corner where Remus usually sat. But the sandy-hair boy was sitting on the bed next to James, listening to him fascinated, not far away from Sirius and Peter. Severus didn't understand their interest at all, yet part of him wondered how it must have felt to be floating in the air, if only it didn't had to be through something that seemed so unstable as a broomstick.

"You shouldn't eat that too," Severus suggested to Lily, who was already preparing for a fifth pancake.

"Seeeeeeev, you're acting like a mom again," Lily said, still putting the pancake back on its plate.

Severus was offended by the accusation.

"Believe me, you don't want to get sick at 20 feet up high."

"I'm not afraid of heights!"

"Lily, that's not what I meant."

"I know." Lily smiled, "But I still don't think an extra one can do any harm."

Severus would have wanted to contradict her once again, but he did not want to strengthen her assumption about the analogy between him and her mother. Sure, Mrs. Evans may have been respecting meal hours accurately, maybe Lily was finally enjoying a little freedom with no parents, but Severus felt like he had too much of that even before coming to Hogwarts.

At least Remus seemed to take his advice seriously because he gave up on his pancake and its exaggerated melted chocolate topping.

And Severus' appetite got lost as he put for the first time in his mind the problem: the 'Flying' classes were held with the Slytherins just like the 'Potions' ones. Surely everyone in Slughorn's class already knew that Lily came from a family of muggles. But they wouldn't have dared to do any harm to her, by sabotaging her flight for instance, no, they wouldn't have dared and Severus was going to make sure of it.

The 'Flying' lessons were held on a smooth and plain lawn. The students stopped in front of about twenty brooms placed into two lines, one in front of the other. The Slytherins were already there. The girl who had troubled Lily the day before gave Severus a wicked smile beneath her forehead as she was bending to study one of the brooms, the broom parallel to the one Severus had chosen, of course.

Their teacher, Madam Hooch, though she seemed past a few of her youths, was almost as lithe as Potter, who was looking at her with admiring eyes that said he had just chosen his sensei.

"Stop vegetating, class. Hold your right hand above your broomsticks and say: up."

All the students did so and the broomsticks flew directly into their hands as if they were magnetically attracted. Peter's broom had somehow managed to miss his hand and punch his nose. Lily looked at him with clenched teeth, empathizing his pain.

"Wouldn't it take exactly as long to just bend over and pick them?" she asked after making sure the professor was too busy to hear her, showing one of the Slytherin girls how to sit on her broomstick.

Severus could not disagree. After all, wizards were not exactly known for their practicality.

As expected, James had been the first one to rise into the air.

"Not so high, mister ..."

"Potter!" James shouted from above.

"Ah, well that explains it."

James smiled satisfied, surely interpreting the remark as a compliment.

Severus didn't dared to fly any higher than five feet, though Lily was already surrounding the sky above him.

"You should try this too, Sev! It's awesome! U-hoooo!"

Sev wanted to slow her down, but whenever his broom moved a little in front, he had the unpleasant feeling it was shaking underneath him.

Remus didn't seem to have much talent either, being on the same level as his and watching James in astonishment as he was crossing the sky in speed alongside Sirius whom he was racing. Peter was a little below looking at them both, even more admirably than Remus did, though he was looking a bit green.

"Hey, Sev, wanna race?" Lily offered.

"I'm sure Madame Hooch wouldn't agree," he said.

And, indeed, the teacher was flying right next to James and Sirius. But instead of sanctioning them, she seemed to praise them.

Severus frowned. Why did they have this charm over all the teachers?

"Kinda slow down there, eh, you two? If I hadn't known better, I'd have guessed you were the mudbloods and not that redhead," came in the long-awaited voice of the Slytherin girl, her broom circling him and Remus, almost as fast as Potter.

Remus flinched so that Severus feared he would lose his balance and fall off his broomstick.

"That's not a nice thing to say, Sabrina," Remus said, managing to rebalance.

"Just like your father, eh, Lupin?" Sabrina said with a contemptuous smile before rising to the spot where Madame Hooch was showing off some tricks, clearly far too busy to hear any of her previous comments.

"Do you know her?" Severus asked Remus with a slight trace of reproach in his voice.

"Her mother works at the Ministry in the Sports Department. She knows dad from conferences and once, at an evening organized by the Ministry, our parents brought us along and then she and her parents learned that my mother is a muggle. Since then, Mrs. Siccatio reminds dad of it every time she meets him on the corridors, and, you know, not in the good way of things."

Severus listened him lost in his own thoughts. That would have explained lot of things, complex of superiority against muggles, hatred on the sorcerers born in their families, hostility for half-bloods and mockery for the muggle-loving wizards. It certainly wasn't the fairy-tale world Lily imagined the Wizarding World would be.

"Severus? You okay?" Remus' voice awakened him from his reverie.

"I think I had enough flying for a day," he said, slowly easing himself to the ground.

He landed a bit abruptly, and Remus, after a keen glance at the group of students gathered around Madame Hooch, also allowed himself to the ground, landing a little smoother, beside him.

"I'm sorry, Severus, those like her ..."

"Still exist, I know," Severus said looking up at Lily.

"Does she know?" Remus noticed, almost whispering.

"She hasn't yet heard that horrible name, I mean, not completely. I'd like it to stay that way, but I got a feeling it won't happen."

Remus seemed for a moment ready to contradict him, but suddenly gave up, probably realizing that he would have deceived him in vain.

They both sat on the grass, unwilling to get into trouble if they were to return to the castle before the end of the class.

Severus stared blankly at the weak autumn morning sun, and Remus' eyes didn't separate from those above them. They sat so, quietly, until everyone else started to descend, Madame Hooch asking them both whether they felt sick or if they had somehow fallen down.

Some of the students began whispering among each other.

Severus saw Remus blushing again and bending his head, far too ashamed to give any answer. Then Severus knew he had to be the one taking over the situation.

"I felt like I needed to get my feet back on the ground, Professor. Remus saw I was having trouble landing and he stayed with me on the ground so I wouldn't be alone."

Remus looked at him dumbfounded, as Sabrina and James both smirked in Severus' direction.

"Oh. Well, it's good to know that you Gryffindors support a friend in need," said Madam Hooch, her yellow eyes staring at Severus. "And you are quite certain you don't need to go to the Infirmary?"

Severus shook his head negatively as Lily joined him, pulling him away from the mocking glances of the flying-fans students.

"Sorry, Sev, I didn't see when you went down. I was too distracted I think, oh you had to see how she did a triple twist, it was wicked!"

They were returning in small steps to the castle, as Lily was asking him all sorts of questions about Quidditch, the sport she'd heard talking about in her bedroom, and that Madame Hooch had mentioned when she was praising James Potter's flight.

Severus didn't want to lose Lily in the Quidditch mania too, then he was pretty satisfied when his explanation on Bludgers, balls meant to hit the players off their brooms, outraged her.

* * *

AN: Okay, so maybe this is my shortest chapter. I know it's not exactly interesting, heck not even very new from what we knew so far from the actual books, it's more like a bridge actually, from point A to B, so I hope the next chapter is a bit more exciting. Anyway, I wanted to point out the original Severus Snape's motivations, his view on the Wizarding World and its link to the one of Muggles, how he actually felt inside and what pushed him into the dark side in the first place.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN/ Hi guys, sorry again for the longer wait, things have gotten a little bit busy here. **

**Hope you find this chapter more exciting than the last one. I'd like to know your opinion on it tough, even if is not a good one, for this is where I think things get kinda unexpected.**

Chapter VII

A Friend in Need

Potion classes had quickly become Severus' and Lily's favorites. The diversity of ingredients, the amazing roles various potions had, everything fascinated them. And together, they were virtually unstoppable at Slughorn's classes, but after a while he stopped giving them extra points for their house every time they managed a perfect mix. Severus wasn't sure if it was just becoming a habit for him already or if the teacher, who was also the head of the Slytherin house, didn't want to take it out of the House Cup race just yet, but it was a nice atmosphere anyway, though James and Sirius sometimes lost points for Gryffindor when they were making their cauldron explode or splash with viscous substances. Whether they did it intentionally or accidentally, Severus could never tell.

Every Wednesday, they had classes in the highest tower of the castle, the Astronomy Tower, the only night courses and one of the few sciences muggles and wizards had in common. They had to learn the names of the sundry stars and observe the motion of the planets.

"There are so many of them, Sev," Lily whispered through the telescope.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be able to find a way to memorize all their names," Severus assured her, fixing his telescope on what their Astronomy professor, Sinistra, who wore a McGonagall-like just more elegant hat, had identified as Rigel, the brightest star in Orion's constellation.

"No, that's not what I meant. Just look at them, Sev, so many, so far, they make you feel small, so so small."

"Then their job is probably already over and done with you, eh, Snivy?"

"Let go, Potter!" Lily intervened.

"Yup, my star is the brightest of all, was there ever any doubt?" Sirius pointed to the star bearing his name.

At least this was going to be an easy one for everybody to remember. It seemed that the Black family had a strange craze for naming their children based on stars, when Sirius started talking about his "brat of a brother" pointing at Arcturus, or about his creepy cousin, Bellatrix, who had completed her study at Hogwarts two years ago, "fortunately," Sirius added.

Severus could have died at peace without knowing all this, but when Lily came in, telling Sirius that her mother had given her and her sister flower names, and that reminded Black of his other cousin, Narcissa, who was in her fifth year in the Slytherin house, Severus began to wonder what it would have been like if he had any siblings, because one thing was for sure, neither Lily nor Sirius were too close to theirs.

At least Lily could hold a civilized conversation with Sirius, instead James chose a lonely little star in the sky, saying that it should be called Snivellon.

In fact, there were also the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, or DADA as most were abbreviating them. Here they had a teacher who wore a necklace with human skull-shaped beads, a lot of white powder and mascara but which could hardly be noticed under the black bang that covered her entire forehead. Her name was Vega Tenebris, Vega who, ironically or not, was another star name. The professor kept her first courses talking about vampires. Although vampires were quite interesting, Severus had the impression she was talking about them with such a deep passion that it sounded as she wanted to be the victim of one of them, to be bitten by her neck so then the both of them would fly in their bat forms underneath the night sky.

The idea that all the monstrosities in muggle fiction were actually real, got Lily a little worried.

"Even werewolves?" She asked.

"Yes, but only on full moons," he tried to emphasize the full half of the glass.

"And Yeti? The Loch Ness Monster?"

"Well I'm not sure, it might."

However, Lily seemed less terrified of the Loch Ness monster because immediately after class, she began searching the library for books about it.

Meanwhile, Severus gave Remus the notes he took that day. Remus had been missing all day because of illness-related reasons. He said he got sick after something he ate at dinner and because of that, he did not spend the night in the Gryffindor's bedroom, but in the Infirmary. Severus had always thought he was exaggerating with sweets, although at the moment, Remus seemed to need something to raise his blood sugar because he was writing really slowly, it was pretty late, and the librarian, Mrs. Pince, wouldn't tolerate their presence there after closing hour.

"I think I found it!" Lily slammed a book on the desk Remus was writing on.

On the page it was opened at, was the image of a creature surrounded by small waves and air bubbles representing the submarine background. The animal was rather large, covered in green algae and had a sea horse-like appearance.

"It looks a bit like Nessie, don't you think?"

"Maybe." He admitted.

Lily, already too inspired to retreat, continued to research the volume full of fantastic beasts.

But as they advanced toward October, things seemed to be turning from a slightly wavy lake, all the way around to a real stormy sea. It was getting harder and harder for Severus to share his bedroom with Sirius and James. They were mocking him after every lesson with Madam Hooch since, although he had learned how to control his broom, he still refused to exceed the height of 10 feet. And, of course, that resulted in the _chicken_ insult. And the fact that Madame Hooch was always watching his flight worriedly did not help the cause at all.

Every time he went to bed he found little surprises. Once he found his pillow case filled with whipped cream. Other times he woke up with ants under his blanket and he was often the target of the new charm learned by the two buffoons, Rictumsemra, that had the effect of tickling him, and Severus forced himself with great difficulty not to laugh. After each student had learned the charm for levitation, Wingardium Leviosa, the pillows flew toward him even more often when all he wanted to do was read quietly. Curious was that they were leaving Remus alone even though they were reading together. It was true that when Sirius and James were taunting him, Remus was hiding behind his tall volumes as if he was trying to make himself invisible. Remus also helped the trouble duo and Peter do their homework. Maybe that's why they were more friendly toward him.

But for Lily it wasn't much easier either. As Severus feared it would happen, Sabrina Siccatio was not the only Slytherin to have something against her. Every time Lily and Severus were passed by one of them on the halls, they were looking at Lily with disgust, but that was all they did, Sabrina instead opted to insult something about Lily whenever there was no teacher around:"Where did you get that backpack, Evans, from the Muggle Second Hand?", "Hey, Evans, who did teach you how to do your hair like that, your pathetic muggle-mum?", "I heard you did well at Charms today, what? Did Flitwick ask you to pull a rabbit out of a hat, as you muggles do?"

Of course, Severus defended her every time. Lily tried to stop him. Then he reminded her that if she wanted to continue supporting him against James, she would have to let him. Lily growled, but there was nothing she had to say about it. They seemed to have come to some sort of social contract.

They may not have been such serious insults, but they were the only ones Sabrina was shouting out loud in the open. Severus feared she would get much worse if it was just her and Lily. And, unfortunately, his suspicions were confirmed when he found Lily quiet, too quiet for her, and still, far too still for her, looking at a painting depicting an oak tree full of singing nightingales.

"They are beautiful," he said slowly so that his voice won't take her by surprise and as he stepped in front of the painting, as if they both intended nothing else than to admire it.

"Yeah ..." Lily said turning to him with what Severus knew was the first fake smile he had ever witnessed from her.

"What did she say to you this time?"

Lily looked at him in shock.

"She passed me by before I found you here."

"As ... as usual ..." sighed Lily.

"You sure about that?"

And his eyes, deep as the night, met her bright, lively ones. Lily sighed once more, but she knew as well as Severus did, that he won't give up until he received an honest and complete answer.

"She used a nasty word."

"Oh."

He didn't need to be a genius to know what the word was. And the fact Lily knew already what it meant didn't eased at all the boulder Severus felt was pressing his heart.

"You don't have to listen to her, Lily. Her opinion doesn't matter."

Lily did not answer, but kept staring at the oak in the picture. Severus believed that there was no point in not following her example and for a long time, the only sound left around them was the chant of the nightingales.

* * *

That night Severus merely lied down, turned on one side, still in his school robes, and stared lost in thought, at the the crescent rising above the castle towers through the window under which Remus was reading interested from the book about fantastic beasts Lily had come with back in the library.

"What's the matter, Snivy? Thinking of writing moon poems to your little redhead friend?"

At James's voice, Severus didn't even flinched, treating him like an annoying fly buzzing around his ear and that would have eventually flown away if he had left it alone.

"Ohhh. Or maybe you guys had a fight."

Sirius also intervened with a disturbing _ohhhhh_.

Severus still refused to look at them, but he could tell the two were closer to his bed as he felt Potter's arms pressed into the mattress.

"Ow, look at him, Siri. Our little princess suffers from love and doesn't talk to us anymore."

"Oh no, James, what are we going to do?"

"Hm... well, my dear acolyte, as I can proudly say with a hand on my heart that I have already taken my Love Doctor certificate, hmm... I'd prescribe a Just-Get-Over-It-Already aspirin and a great dose of Live-Your-Life."

The two burst into laughter, with Peter joining in with what sounded like hysterical squeaking.

"ENOUGH!" Severus could no longer take it, suddenly getting up from his pillows.

Peter stopped laughing as fast as he started.

"What happened Snivy, did we hult youl feewings?" James asked with a jeering face.

"As if that wasn't your intention," Severus murmured through his teeth struggling to regain his composure.

"Oh what was that, Snivellus? Did you say you got detention? I knew Madame Hooch would eventually get fed up with the insult your mere existence brings to her classes." Sirius intervened, as usual.

The mentioning of the flying lessons made Severus turn towards Remus, who immediately lowered his eyes back to his book when they met his.

That was the last straw! Severus stood up, leaving his bed to James, who was knelling on its edge, and he stepped firmly out the door.

"Severus, wait!" he heard Remus' alarmed voice when already halfway down the staircase. Remus grabbed his hand.

"Don't touch me!" Severus snarled, pulling his hand out.

"Severus, please, I'm sorry if-"

"If what, Remus? If you pretend you're not there every time there are three against one?"

"Severus I just ... I didn't want to provoke them even harder, for them to disturb you even more."

"Oh just spare me that! We both know very well that this isn't about what happens to me, but to you! Do tell. You don't want to turn Black and Potter against yourself? Why have enemies when it's much easier to be neutral, isn't it? Why risk your own skin for someone else when you can keep yours safe instead? Do you know who thinks like this? A Slytherin!"

"Severus, please, I wouldn't, I thought we were friends ..." Remus said with something that seemed begging, into his sandy-green eyes.

"Are we now? Friends defend each other's back!"

"Yes, Severus, yes, but ..."

"Good night, Remus." Severus said coolly, taking down the remaining steps.

He threw himself into one of the cherry-colored armchairs.

"Isn't it a bit late for you to be here, kid?"

He turned his head toward Patricia Rakepick. The girl was leaning over one of the tables where were randomly spread various parchments and some very old looking books.

Patricia smiled reassuringly before bending her head back over the long parchment unfolded along the table and reaching down the floor.

"I won't say a thing if you do the same for me," she said.

Severus was pretty pleased with this understanding, letting Patricia study quietly as he searched for a more comfortable position on that armchair, in the hope he would soon get at least into a half-sleepy state. After about 40 minutes of staring at the ceiling in the dark room, he realized that his attempt was in vain. And so he turned to the only light source in the Common Room - the candle on Patrick's table.

"Tough night?" she asked, though Severus made no sound. "You know ... As much as I like this place instead of the bedrooms, it's not the most comfortable when it comes to sleeping."

"I'm not going back in there!" Severus frowned, though he wondered soon after if he didn't sound like a whiny little child.

"Well you can't spend all the nights from now on in here, now can you?"

"Why not? You seem to have settled in already." Severus said, looking at all the disorganized books on her table.

"It's just one of my research centers." Patricia said, crossing her hands behind her back, with an intellectual air.

"Research?"

Patricia turned her head to look around, making sure there was no one but them.

"You seem a pretty smart kid."

Severus was not quite at ease with the crafty tone of her remark, but Patricia ignored that, instead motioning for him to come closer to her.

He got off the armchair and noticed an old sketch of the school on one of the parchments.

"Tell me. Have you ever heard of Cursed Vaults? "

"Sure. In 'Legends of Hogwarts'." Severus replied automatically.

"Then you know what they should contain."

"Nobody knows exactly. Some believe priceless treasures, prophecies, enchanted artifacts, but ... it's just a legend."

Patricia shook her head amused.

"A pretty abrasive kid if you've already given up believing in legends."

Severus blinked a little confused.

He also believed the school was full of secret passages, but five enchanted chambers that were only said to exist and people could only guess what they were hiding, sounded a little improvised.

"Then you believe in them?"

"Easier than I'd believe McGonagall is secretly a Country dancer."

Severus smiled as he heard the comparison she had chosen and noticed that the book from where he had learned about the Vaults into the first place, was one of the many piled up on the table, right next to one titled '_Guarding Curses_'. Then he remembered the second part of the text.

"But they are also said to contain Dark Magic, terrible horrors that should remain within. Even if you'd find priceless treasures, do you really think it's worth the risk? "

"Risks are my life, kid." Patricia said with another smile, a proud one.

Severus looked at her intently. So he had been right in considering before the Gryffindor-specific recklessness. Why would anyone venture to purposely reach something potentially dangerous, something that probably wasn't even meant to be discovered?

"So you want to find them just for some ... adrenaline?"

"A little more than that. I want to prove to people they truly exists, that little Patty Rakepick was more than some crazy little girl following crazy fantasies!"

Severus remembered all the older students who sometimes teased Patricia. The girl was carelessly ignoring them, minding her own work, but remembering those he had left behind upstairs, he could only feel her motivation.

"But what made you believe in them?" He asked curiously.

Patricia looked at him with interest as if she was only now judging him as a partner worthy of serious conversation because she got very close before responding:

"Let's just say I know someone."

Patricia's blue eyes analyzed him head to toe.

"You know, you're pretty small."

Severus lowered an eyebrow and raised the other.

"No, in a good way, hmm... useful, actually."

And Patricia returned, rubbing her chin thoughtfully in the process, back to her scrolls, most of which seemed to consist in sketches and maps.

"Tell me. If you can't get yourself to sleep anyway ... what about a little nightly walk?"

He liked to think Patricia wasn't really as insane as some of the older students were laughing among each other saying she was. But even so, each time he saw her returning late through the hole in the wall, he had never thought Patricia had small nocturnal escapades even in the middle of the night.

However, when calculating his options, Severus thought of all the bullies of that day, all those who were laughing at those like him, Lily and Patricia just because they were different from them. He thought of the cowardice of Remus who never dared to do anything dangerous, and then of the passion Patricia spoke with about risks. The world would have believed him to be an unmatched lunatic if he had accompanied her, but the same world would have been left with dropped jaws if they'd managed to find even the slightest proof that the Cursed Vaults were real. And even if it turned out to be a goose chase, Severus could have used a little background change right on the moment, something to refresh his mind.

And just like this, he saw himself following a rebellious teenager through the hole of the painting, at two am.

"Ah, you again?" the Fat Lady said, looking at Patricia, as she rubbed her eyes and then let out a heavy yawn.

Patricia shrugged her shoulders carelessly, before signaling for Severus to follow her down the aisle.

She seemed to know her way around the castle, perking her ears only when they turned a corner. Severus hoped they won't come across Mr. Pringle. He had heard stories from the Gryffindor tower about his violent methods of dealing with problematic students. He found it hard to believe that an adult in a school, even a magical one, would have been allowed to use his belt on some children, but he did not intend to test his theory. It was said that despite the years, old Pringle had his senses still as sharp as during his golden age.

They soon reached the place Patricia had announced from the beginning was their destination, but Severus was no longer feeling as comfortable in the Dungeons, now that he knew what kind of people they were hiding. Certainly Sabrina would have been delighted to see him caught on the hallways at night by one of the prefects of her house.

As they had descended the last slippery step in the underground of the castle, Patricia aimed her wand at the cold, dark stones that made up the floor.

"Vestigium Revelio!"

Numerous smaller and larger shoe traces now laid in front of them in a washed, transparent blue.

Patricia studied the foot prints for a few moments. Some of them were more discolored than others. Severus suspected their visibility degree depended on how recently they had been made. Patricia thought the same because, as no trace was too dense, she approached the stone wall starting to press one of the bricks.

"Uh, should I help you?" Severus offered.

"Nah, I think this was it," she said, pressing a brick that looked like all the others.

In the next instant, a very narrow tunnel made its way between the bricks that were retreating backwards, reminding Severus of the entrance through the wall of Leaky Cauldron - the entrance into Diagon Alley.

"Sly Slytherin was probably sending his snake to open it from the other side," explained Patricia lowering herself down, near the ground-leveled tunnel. "I found it here around the second week of this term. I was thinking I can learn a shrinking spell for life-beings, but since you are here, I suppose I no longer need to tire up for nothing."

Severus bent down looking through the tunnel through which nothing could be seen.

"You want me to ... but what if it's some sort of trap?"

"I'll find a way to get you out of there if you prove to be right."

Severus didn't know if her assurance was meant to make him feel better, but he wasn't going to retreat if they'd gotten this far already.

He laid down on his belly, crawling from his elbows through the small hole in the wall. He had never believed his brittle body would be so useful for once, because he was sure a few extra inches would have made him get stuck.

He took a small curve. The tunnel went far into the stone. If he were a claustrophobic person he surely would have panicked. He arrived into a room as small as a toilet cabin.

"Lumos!" he enchanted and turned his luminous wand around the small room. On the wall of the tunnel through where he had just entered was a black and sharp support for a torch that was missing.

He thought of shouting through the tunnel to ask Patricia for directions, but he feared his voice would sound louder than need. So he did pretty much the only thing he could have done at the moment and drew the support down. The support moved easier than Severus would have expected (so Patricia was probably right about Slytherin's snake being accustomed to the same task, perfect for a long, light body). The wall right to the one containing the tunnel, disappeared completely and the dungeon corridor reappeared in front of him.

"Um, Patricia?" He said slowly, putting his head slightly out.

He heard footsteps running toward him before they turned a corner and he could see Patricia hurrying.

"You did it!" she said excitedly walking into the small room that became very crowded.

The wall came back in place and Patricia began to search through the bricks again.

"Aha!" she said.

Severus turned too, to the small snake carved into the wall. Patricia ran her finger through its long form, but to no luck.

"Pff... of course ... Parseltongue."

She removed a water cup from the canvas bag she was carrying, and placed it on the floor. Then out of a few lazy wand movements, the cup took the shape of a small snake that began to hiss angrily in their direction.

"Wow, you're good at Transfiguration! Turning objects into life-beings is something very advanced." Severus said impressed by the snake he was not at all as intimidated of, as the little creature would have probably wanted him to be.

"Eh, it was actually a snake before I turned it into a cup. Found it into the Forbidden Forest this morning. I had luck the spell had lasted this long."

"You've been into the Forbidden Forest?"

"Oh, please, sometimes I even feel like I'm spending more time in there than in the castle."

Surprised by the girl's insane daring, Severus almost didn't considered it strange at all when Patricia grabbed the snake into her bare hands and hold its head, pointing it at the symbol on the wall.

"Come on, come on already," she said frustrated between her teeth when nothing happened.

"Maybe you got to make him say: _open it_," Severus suggested.

"Ah, of course!" Patricia slapped her forehead before flipping the snake back into her bag and zipping it up.

She lifted the bag and brought it closer to the wall.

They both quieted so that some faded hisses could be heard from inside, and the bricks began moving like those before the tunnel.

Severus followed Patricia inside. She reached out her hand, stopping his footsteps before a deep hole. Severus looked down. It looked like a bottomless abyss dug into the depths of the earth and surrounded by cavern-like walls. It contained only a tall pedestal that seemed to have its base somewhere into that depth. From a distance, Severus could not deduce exactly what it was on that pedestal, but the only way to access were some flat stones that were simply floating into the air, close one to another and leading like a scattered bridge right to it.

Patricia flexed her knees.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Severus panicked, grabbing the edge of her robe.

"Calm down, kid."

He might have had let himself convinced to get here, but this was already too far! Those stones could have very well been unstable. Maybe they were built in such a way that they were lowering down at the slightest weight, or maybe they were too slippery, or maybe-

"Seriously, kid, I know what I'm doing." Patricia interrupted his range of possibilities.

Severus noticed that he was holding her robe into his fists like a scared child who didn't want to let his parent go to work. But even so, he didn't let go until Patricia leaned over and squeezed his smaller hands into hers.

"Trust me," she said.

Severus nodded very slowly, not abandoning for a moment her gaze, not letting go of the luster hiding into her blue eyes. It was the luster of someone who truly believed in their own words. But his breath was still withdrawn when Patricia made a first long jump, landing just fine on the nearest stone. Nothing happened. The stone was still there, and that truly give him more trust.

Patricia did the same with five more stones, although on the next one, which was a little smaller, she needed some time to find her balance. Severus swallowed dryly. This was crazy! Perhaps Salazar's snake was simply spreading itself from one stone to another and brought whatever was on that pedestal back to him.

Fortunately, Patricia managed to get safely on steep steps that bordered the pedestal.

"What is it?" Severus asked intrigued.

"Just a book." Patricia sighed.

As much as he liked books, Severus didn't understand why would anyone have bothered so much to put their hands on it, or to build such a complicated hideout for it, for that matter.

Patricia reached anyway to touch the artifact.

"No, wait! It could be a trap!" He warned her.

"I couldn't imagined otherwise," admitted Patricia. "But it could also be some kind of clue. Hold on!"

Severus didn't know exactly what she meant, until, once the girl's fingers touched the cover of the book, the cave began to shake violently around them, huge boulders falling from the ceiling.

Patricia got much faster this time around back to the other side, where Severus stood frozen into place, watching her jump from one stone to another and simultaneously stay away from those falling in her direction.

But he still didn't appreciated it too much when Patricia's arms simply picked him up. She then ran along with him back to the small antechamber. Patricia quickly pulled the torch support and only after the wall had reappeared behind them, did she leave Severus down the Dungeons' floor.

Behind the wall through which they had just passed, they heard stones crashing into each other. The noise would have been enough to wake up all the Slytherins. But they weren't the ones they had to worry about at the moment.

"Who goes there?" They heard a steep, angry voice approaching the corner that was their only protection against Mr. Pringle's vision field.

Patricia clung to the wall, pushing Severus into it as well, as she searched again into her bag. The little snake glared at those who held him captive, but Patricia completely ignored its attitude, placing it onto the cold bricks of the floor and giving it a small impulse of blue sparks created by her wand and aiming its tail.

The snake hissed angrily and crawled away, along the hall.

"What the...?" Mr. Pringle's voice was heard once again before the sound of his steps was lost in the opposite direction.

They waited a little longer to make sure Patricia's snake made Pringle follow it up the stairs before they too began their subtle and silent journey back to the Gryffindor tower. They had been good enough at it that they didn't even wake up the personages who were snoozing quietly in the frames of their paintings. Well, excepting one of them.

"You know what I should do right now? Let you out until morning and continue my beauty sleep! Do you kids have any idea what you are doing to my eye bags?" said the disturbed Fat Lady, removing one of the cucumbers covering her eyes to reveal some black circles.

Patricia only rolled her eyes, but Severus knew that Mr. Pringle could appear any moment now.

"Sorry for troubling you. Please let us in." He said, taking a step forward and placing his hands behind his back, which likely made him look rather shy and polite. The Fat Lady looked at him leniently.

"Alright, but just for your sake, darling." She said, frowning instead at Patricia.

The Common Room was, fortunately, still vacant. Severus only worried that Remus might have came in the meantime to look for him. If he hadn't seen him, what would he had believed? That he asked Lily to host him into the girls' bedroom? Well, believe what he wanted! It wasn't Severus' problem anymore.

"This was a close one." Patricia said as she took from her bag the book they found. "It wasn't bad for your first attempt, kid."

"You thought fast with the snake."

"And you with the Fat Lady," she said, smiling slyly at him.

"The Chamber of Secrets." Severus read the title of the book Patricia placed on the table. "I don't get it. I thought it was a book of spells written by him himself."

"Well, not exactly." Said the older Gryffindor, opening the book. "I imagine you heard about the Chamber of Secrets if you knew about the Vaults."

"They are legends ..." Severus whispered.

"Hmm, legends with an instruction manual?" Patricia asked rhetorically, opening the book.

It wasn't exactly a book, but rather a notebook, a notebook in which Salazar Slytherin had sketched, composed incantations, made plans, all to create the legendary room where he was rumored to had hidden a monster, a monster that Severus already knew about and which he was hoping Lily would never find out existed, a monster meant to get the school rid of all those descended from families like hers.

"A Basilisk?!" Severus shouted.

Patricia motioned for him to keep it down.

"Sorry ..." Severus reduced his voice to a whisper. "But a Basilisk? I mean, I understand a bit Salazar's problem, but a Basilisk? I thought maybe it was a Manticore, or... I don't know ... "

"A part lion creature, instead of a snake one?"

"Ah, yeah ..." said Sev slightly embarrassed "... right."

They had spent the rest of the night looking at the yellowed-from-passing-time pages of the notebook. Not only did it tell them how to grow a Basilisk out of an egg or how to ward off its killer gaze, but it also showed them exactly how to enter the Chamber of Secrets and how to overcome every obstacle in its path.

"Why would someone build a tunnel through a toilet? A girls' toilet? "

Severus was surprised that after all he had read this was his biggest concern.

"Either because no one would have ever thought to look for it there, or the rumors are true, and he was becoming even more and more cracked as he was getting older."

Severus was uneasy at the thought that a huge, deadly snake might have been very well within a few feet under the ground beneath them, a snake that had the ability of smelling the purity of wizarding blood! Well, according to the notes, the Basilisk was almost in some kind of hibernation and could only be freed by Slytherin's true heir. And just the thought that a guy talking to snakes and hiding his secret journals in underground tunnels would have a heir, was a little bizarre.

"No wonder he tired himself up so much building that hideout. Fallen into the wrong hands, this journal would reveal all its secrets." Severus realized.

Patricia was interested in the sketch of a door with snake-carved patterns, on one of the pages in the middle of the notebook.

"You think ... do you think we should take this to Dumbledore?"

"What? Certainly not! How do you think we'd explained this to him: Hey, old dude, we found by mistake, so by chance, this diary simply abandoned on the floor and we thought it would be an interesting lecture to you too?"

"Well ... we don't have to do it directly. We could send him an anonymous owl."

"Smart. But that old man gives me the creeps. As far as I know, he could know who sent it to him by smelling the paper, or reading the owl's thoughts, or Heaven knows what!" Patricia said, bringing her hand to her brow, nervously.

All right, so maybe Patricia Rakepick was a little paranoid. But maybe Severus was the same sometimes. However, no one was in danger yet. Then they both agreed to hide the journal and show it to Dumbledore only if it were ever rumored that the heir of Slytherin, whoever that may be, will ever make an attempt into the girls toilet of which Patricia had told him anyway that no one ever came near because it was the shrine of Moaning Myrtle, the ghost of incredibly annoying and sensitive girl.

"So I can't say it was a totally vain experience," said Patricia after they both have reached the end of the book.

"You were hoping to find Slytherin's Vault. Are you sure it couldn't have been that one?"

"I doubt it. It is said that the five Vaults are somehow connected to each other. The only thing this could be connected to is the room where old Sal kept his pet. And if the role of the Basilisk was to guard something important, then surely he would have wrote about it in here." Patricia justified, lifting the notebook between her fingers.

Severus stared blankly at the first lines of sunrise that were already visible through the window.

"Believe me, kid, this castle is full of secrets. I don't think a lifetime would be enough to find them all."

Severus noticed again the passion she was talking with. It had been a long, strange night, perhaps interesting actually. And he couldn't say he was exactly excited about a possible repeat of their search, but he could only smile when Patricia promised to keep him in touch with what she would find next. After all, at least this experience drove away all the thoughts forgotten in the bedroom occupied by Sirius Black and James Potter.

* * *

**AN/ Okay, so for those of you who don't know yet, I do not own Patricia Rakepick. She is a character from the Harry Potter game app, Hogwarts Mystery. I haven't finished the game levels myself quite yet, but I read Patricia was this girl who searched for the Cursed Vaults into her school years. Those vaults are kinda the main plot of that game, but they will contain totally different stuff, they'll even have different names, histories and purposes, so they will fit into my story better.**

**Anyway, on Wikipedia it says Patricia was a smart, skilled, but very rebellious and reckless student. This is why the teachers didn't really liked her so much. She was an older Gryffindor than the Marauders whom she actually taught some of her mischievous knowledge. After she finished Hogwarts, she got herself a job at Gringotts, as that place was filled with hidden rooms and vaults she already knew so much about. Later on, on the time the events on Hogwarts Mystery take place, she returned to Hogwarts as a teacher, in order to continue her search for the Cursed Vaults, at the time Severus Snape himself was the Potion Master. They'd never got along as adults, because Severus was blaming her for part of the things James Potter did to him in the past, but he also didn't trust her as a teacher because he believed she would put Hogwarts at grave risk.  
**

**But hey, I knew him becoming a Gryffindor wouldn't only change the story for him, but also for surprisingly many other characters. So this is what happens if Severus was the one to get to knowing Patricia before the Marauders had the chance, and if he got to see an other side of her, and actually find some common ground. **


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8- Duo of Duel

**AN/ Don't worry, I haven't given up on this story. Sorry for the long wait, but this is actually the longest chapter. **

**Anyway, quick update, you know that Slytherin bully girl that torments Lily, well I changed her name into Sabrina Sicattio. Selena didn't really had a proper name meaning, but I checked in and found out Sabrina was the name of a princess who was drowned in a river called Severn (see, name-wise already kinda points out her link to Severus). The river was then called after her. In other stories Sabrina appears as a water nymph, so in all cases her name is water-related. And water is the element specific to the Slytherin house, so I thought it will totally fit her.**

**Also I invented Sicattio as a derivation from the world siccum which means dry in Latin. So 'Sabrina Sicattio' becomes an oxymoron - an expression formed by two terms that kinda contradict each other: water and dryness. It could indicate possessing the power of doing good and bring life on its own (the given name) but which eventually gets wasted away because of the family worn-out beliefs (the family name).**

**Pretty cool, huh? So you understand why I had to seize this opportunity and change this character's name. I guess it was simply to tempting for me not to.**

* * *

It was probably expected that after all the palpitations contained in one single night, Severus would feel at least tired the whole day after. But he didn't quite expected to find himself among those who fell asleep during Professor Binns's monotonous speech about the Merpeople's Revolution of 1123.

Severus had sworn to Patricia that he would not divulge anything about their nocturnal adventure to anyone. So he had to make up an excuse when Lily asked him about the origin of his eye bags which looked even more outlined than the ones on the Fat Lady. Fortunately, to Lily it sounded quite plausible that he had read till very late into the night.

But the incident did not remain completely undiscovered as Severus had heard chunks of the tense conversation worn that morning at the teachers' table. They couldn't have made such a big fuss over the little snake caught by Mr. Pringle, that was for sure. The old caretaker probably thought it was just one of the Slytherins' pets. It made sense. Not all students followed the cat-owl-toad protocol of the Hogwarts supplies list. Some also had hamsters, rabbits or even bats. But it seemed that the noise caused by the earthquake in the cavern at the end of the hidden tunnel had caught the attention of Mr. Pringle and of some Slytherins who had remained in their Common Room at that time. Mr. Pringle believed that the little snake made something crush into a chain reaction before crawling along the hallway, only that the other teachers were not as easy to mislead and had proposed some research on the Dungeons' entrance.

Severus knew he had nothing to worry about. After all, if Patricia had survived for so long without getting caught, they would probably be both out of any suspicion …Unless someone interrogated the Fat Lady.

His sleep time at the 'History of Magic' had helped him to at least sit with a straight back at Charms. Professor Flitwich's classroom was foreseen with very long benches, so Remus would normally join him and Lily.

But this time, Severus tried to ignore him all morning. Feeling his hostile gaze as he approached them, Remus sadly lowered his head and sat down next to Mary McDonnald - Lily's newest friend.

"What ... what happened between the two of you? Lily asked in a worried whisper.

Severus only puffed his nose - his distinctive sign when he didn't want to talk about something.

Lily admitted and turned her attention to what Professor Flitwich had to say about the flame-making spell, Incidio, and the rules for preventing unwanted fires. It was a simple charm, but with a pretty high level of risk and Severus believed the teacher was a real maniac if he thought teaching it to Sirius and James was a good idea.

After class, Severus stayed behind, telling Lily to leave without him because he had something to ask Flitwich. The question remained engraved in his brain from the moment he watched breathless, Patricia Rakepick jump over a bottomless abyss.

"Yes, Mr. Snape? Is there something you would like to tell me?" The small teacher asked in a gentle voice.

Flitwich's head-top reached just below Severus's neck, and that was saying a lot. But even so, Severus knew he was an intelligent man, he had even heard that the professor had been an exceptional duelist in his youth. He hoped his question won't sound suspicious then.

"Yes, about the Charm for Levitation, I just ... does it only work on non-animated objects?"

"Hmm ..." the professor said lengthy, looking carefully at him through his brown eyes. "As far as I know, it does. People wouldn't exactly enjoy being lifted into the air without their own will, don't you think?"

"No, that's not why I-"

"It's alright, Severus," the professor mildly reassured him. "You know, I asked myself the same question when I was like you."

"Really?"

"But I'm afraid not many have done the same."

Severus was surprised to find this out, but he politely withdrew, letting his teacher write down on the board the incantation for his next class with the third-year students, Carpe Retractum, a charm for pushing and pulling objects.

Maybe charms just weren't meant to affect people. For this there were the curses, and Severus had learned many of those too even though, of course, they were not in the school syllabus.

XXX

The moving stairs he sometimes did not find in the spot he had last seen them and with disappearing and reappearing steps, had always been to Severus an extra factor of chaos in the school, as opposed to Lily who considered them more amusing than the elevator stairs cases of the Muggle World.

Then it seemed a little annoying to him how the set of stairs where he stood next to Patricia in front of a large painting, kept moving with them from one side to the other.

At least no other student was using them at the moment. Most of them were having lunch in the Great Hall.

"I understand you found a new recruit, too," said the wizard from the painting, looking down at Severus.

Severus felt intimidated in front of great Merlin, even as he was a simple painted representation. In many ways Merlin resembled Dumbledore. He too had a long, silver beard and bushy eyebrows. But the features of his face were sharper and his eyes were not at all as warm.

"You could put it that way. I just wanted Severus here to meet the one who asserted my theory."

"Hmm, I have definitely made a big mistake when I answered your first question about them." Merlin frowned.

"Big deal, you won't tell me where to find them anyway."

"Over the ashes of my canvas! You already know far more than you should! "

Patricia crossed her hands bored, looking at Severus, seemingly waiting for him to say something in her favor.

"Don't listen to her, boy. I will tell you exactly what I told her. The horrors within are far more than your unripe minds could ever imagine!" Merlin's painting warned in a voice echoing between the stone walls.

But Patricia ignored him and continued to climb up the stairs, leaving an angry Merlin behind. Severus followed her quickly.

"He did nothing but tell me the Vaults exist. It is said he studied them, he must know where they can be found or at least what they might contain, but he would never tell me in this case. All he does is listing all the imaginable sensations I could possibly feel in a slow and painful death, the ways I would ruin the entire school alongside with me, or other things like that just to make me quit!" She explained fiercely as they reached the top of the stairs.

"But he's Merlin. If he says opening the Vaults would affect the school, shouldn't you believe him?"

"He's not the real Merlin. It's just a portrait painted by him himself at an old age and which he taught everything he knew about the Vaults."

"Still ... He seems to know what he's talking about."

"Well, whatever he knows, I could never make him spill the beans. But who knows, maybe you'll be more fortunate than me." Patricia aimed him again with that look Severus thought made her look exactly like a cunning fox.

"Me?"

"Aha, do you know which house Merlin belonged to?"

"Slytherin ..." Severus whispered.

That was another reason why the House of the Snake seemed so attractive to him. Merlin was the most significant sorcerer in the history of Britain, well, maybe him alongside the four founders of Hogwarts who were said to have even taught him at some point. And it still sounded pretty attractive. But Severus couldn't turn back now.

"But I'm not a Slytherin after all."

"Well, it still was the Hat's first option, you can't deny that. It means you must have some slyness inside you, kid. You can think the way he thinks."

"What? Think like Merlin? Patricia, I'm eleven! Even you are slyer than me."

"Hmm, true." Patricia grinned as at a compliment.

"And even if let's say I could get even the smallest clue as to where to find them, if he's right, we'll curse the whole school!"

"Come on, it's the painting's mission to keep the Vaults as safe as possible. Merlin didn't want them to be found, which is why he exaggerates the description of the curses. He knows how to overcome them so it cannot be an imminent danger as it is only an obstacle. And obstacles are made to be overcome!"

Severus didn't quite understand her logic. Patricia seemed rightly obsessed with finding the five Cursed Vaults as if the _cursed_ part was doing nothing but incite her furthermore.

"May I know why two of my students aren't at lunch right about now?"

Their footsteps stopped in front of Professor McGonagall who was crossing the otherwise deserted hallway.

"I was just showing Severus the shortcut to the North Tower, Professor." Patricia excused herself, however, speaking with much more respect than the one used in front of Merlin.

"Rightfully so, I suppose you are the one to know best all the shortcuts in the castle, Miss Rakepick," McGonagall said raising an eyebrow at her. "And yet I feel compelled to point out that wandering through the school with a first-year student who should be eating right now is not the most considerable thing coming from an older one."

"Um, that's fine, Professor. I asked her to. I wasn't hungry anyway," Severus said slightly tired of the two witches talking about him as if he weren't even there.

The professor looked at him in an investigative manner. He may not have sounded too convincing with his frail body but he had to somehow reinforce the story invented by Patricia.

"Very well then, I expect neither of you will be late for their next courses."

Patricia nodded convincingly. The teacher once again walked her eyes from one to the other, stopping to focus them more on Patricia, before resuming her walk.

"She doesn't exactly have you close to her heart." Severus remarked when they were far enough away from her.

"Meh." Patricia shrugged her shoulders unaffected.

"I thought you were one of her best students at '_Transfiguration'_."

"I am. But I'm afraid for some teachers it doesn't matter how much you perceive from their information, as much as what you are planning to do with it, if you know what I mean."

No doubt, Severus knew. Probably using Transfiguration on snakes meant to open secret doors was another thing missing from the school curriculum.

XXX

Severus felt guilty for not accompanying Lily on lunch break as he always did. But he had been so curious to meet Patricia's trusted source that he could not refrain from accepting her invitation.

Maybe Lily thought he was just trying to avoid Remus, who was usually sitting next to them at the table. He was hoping to still find her there.

There were only a few students left in the Great Hall - those who arrived late for lunch or those who were not satisfied with little, like the two chubby Slytherins standing on either side of that blond-haired boy who had been very attentive back at Severus' sorting and who was slightly disgusted by how his two companions were attacking some turkey legs soaked in sauce, without the use of any cutlery.

Lily got up, but she was still next the Gryffindor's table. Remus was by her side, Remus and ... Sabrina!

"And what other dishes did your Muggles invent, Evans? Sausages covered in cherry syrup?"

Severus advanced toward them almost as fast as James Potter would have on his broomstick.

Lily looked angry, and Remus looked horrified from one girl to another, trapped in their ammunition field.

"I'm sure you'd like it if you tried it!" Lily said.

"Yeah, poisoning my interior with your garbage!"

"Enough, Sicattio!" Severus cut in.

"You can never stay apart, can you, Snape?" Maybe you should take Lupin's example. After all, this is the only clever thing he does."

Remus looked as if he wanted to melt away right under Severus' and Sabrina's gazes.

"If you don't give up, I don't see why I would," Severus continued.

"He's right. Why can't you just leave us alone? We never did anything to you!" Lily pleaded.

"No one asked for your opinion, Mudblood!"

Severus felt challenged enough to pull out his wand and aim it at her, but he hadn't even managed to reach for it when the blond boy appeared behind Sabrina.

"Problems, kids?" He asked, lifting his chin and looking down from above.

Severus noticed the Prefect badge stuck on his green-detailed uniform. Slytherin or not, there may still have been a little spark of hope for the boy to do the right thing.

"You can bet on that. Obviously discriminatory insults should not be allowed in the school, or anywhere else for that matter."

"Discrimination you say? Hmm, well all I see are three Gryffindors assaulting one single Slytherin," said the blonde, placing a hand on Sabrina's shoulder as she looked at the other three in triumph.

And the little spark was gone. Severus was convinced the older Slytherin has heard everything Sabrina had said. The two fat boys also made some lazy steps stopping behind the Prefect, still holding their turkey legs.

"What? But we didn't assault her. She assaulted us!" Protested Lily.

"You don't say… And how exactly did she do that if I'm allowed to ask, miss?"

Lily opened her mouth a few times to say something, but closed it back every time, incredulously.

"Don't pretend you haven't heard," Severus intervened. "You know exactly what word she used."

"Hmm ..." the Prefect stared at Lily, "must have missed it."

Lily squinted at the boy, unable to believe him, then bent her head down disappointed ... hurt.

"Are you mixing yourself in the first years' business, Malfoy?"

Severus gratefully turned his head toward Patricia. She was holding a sandwich, had also came for a late and fast lunch it seemed.

Malfoy smirked. "In case you haven't noticed, Rakepick, unlike you, their problems have to concern me."

Patricia looked at him as if he were the least impressive stain of coffee left on a living-room table.

"Just go and get a bubble bath, get your manicure done, powder your hair or whatever you do during your free time, Malfoy," said Patricia nonchalantly, beckoning for the three smaller Gryffindors to follow her through the massive oak door.

"Five points from Gryffindor for insolence addressed to a Prefect!" Malfoy yelled back as the doors were closing behind them. "And another five for your little friends disturbing the silence in the Great Hall!"

Remus timidly followed Patricia, but Severus stayed behind to match Lily's pace.

"Are you okay?" He asked slowly.

"He's just like her, Sev ..." Lily whispered.

Still, it was enough for Patricia to hear.

"Malfoy? Oh, you have no idea. That whiny snob is not interested in anything outside his mirror and making an ordeal out of the lives of all those who are not part of his little snake nest. He believes he can treat everyone as he pleases just because his family is rotten rich and they have conserved their blood pure for generations."

The last part made Lily sigh.

"Why ... why don't we take a walk alongside the lake? We have Herbology, we can choose that route." Severus suggested placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Maybe next time, Sev. I must ... I promised Professor Sprout I'll show her a Botany manual from my old school days. She seemed interested ... "Lily bent her head yet once again, seeming to suddenly doubt Professor Sprout's words. "I have to go and get it. There's not much time left. See you there!"

Severus let out a deep sigh as Lily got lost from his sight behind the first corner.

Remus took a step toward him, but Severus withdrew, clearly demonstrating that he did not want to be touched. Remus caught the message as he smiled sadly, before pushing himself to the exit doors.

Severus and Patricia were left alone.

"Looks like you've got yourself involved into a lot of trouble, kid."

"You think?" Severus asked sarcastically rubbing his forehead. "This Sicattio girl just won't leave her alone already..."

"Sicattio? Yeah. I think I heard about them. Heh, almost as prosperous as the Malfoy family. I wouldn't be surprised if they were some distant relatives or something."

"I don't think I can take it anymore. Next time she'll insult Lily- "

"But why leave her a next time?"

Severus turned suspiciously toward her.

"Don't let her get to your friend again. Maybe she will be a bit more cooperative if you could talk between four eyes."

"What do you mean?"

"Reach out to an understanding, confront her alone because it is pretty clear your friend isn't able to do the same for herself."

"Lily is not weak!" Severus denied.

"I didn't say that. But Lily could use the help of someone who really cares about her right now, don't you think?"

Severus knew she was right because he couldn't see any other way around. Lily was getting more and more affected by each passing day. It had to end!

XXX

"Stop it at once! This is a library not an alley in the park!"

Madam Pince's shrill voice stopped Severus from his impatient plodding in circles.

"Sorry."

Madam Pince fixed the sharp frame of her glasses on her nose, then released him from her orbit and returned to her counter.

Severus met every afternoon with Lily in the library to do homework. It was unlike her to be late.

There were only a few Ravenclaw students gathered around one of the tables and in one corner, Remus, typical ...

Severus had the feeling the boy had been following him all day long. He knew from the way Remus was looking over his Potions manual with the unfounded impression that Severus wasn't noticing, he knew that he intended to speak to him but did not dare to do so.

Severus should have let him deal with this hardship for a little longer. But he knew full well their little drama could only upset Lily even more, and that was the last thing she needed at the moment.

He grabbed a book from the nearest shelf without looking closely at the title and sat down on the empty chair next to Remus.

They sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes in which Severus had to pretend he was interested in 'Electrical Installations for Wizards' Understanding'. But he soon realized that he had resorted to Remus Lupin's classic technique of avoidance. He wasn't going to reduce himself to that.

"You're reading the exact same page for 15 minutes already," Severus said.

"Oh, Severus ... Uh, I didn't see you there."

"Huh, do you really want us to go through this all over again?" Severus asked with saturation.

Remus sat himself more upright on the back of his chair.

"Look, Severus about last night ... I really didn't mean to, I mean ..." but at Severus' thin eyebrows that were beginning to frown at him unimpressed: "No. You have every right to be upset with me. When we were at flight lessons, you defended me in front of everyone. You prevented them from making fun of me and they laughed at you instead..."

"Oh, please, unlike you, others' opinions really don't affect me."

"You... you're right. I wish I could think the way you do, it's just that ... I'm not very used to hang out with other kids."

"I too only had Lily before," Severus admitted.

Remus smiled warmly, but Lily's memory did not bring any sunshine into Severus' mind this time around.

"How did Sabrina start now?"

"Oh." Remus said. "Lily was just explaining to me what a Pizza is. She said the food at Hogwarts is great, but that she misses her father's cooking. Sabrina heard and ..."

"Yeah, I think I got everything from here on out..." Severus interrupted, looking gravely and randomly at one of the shelves in the History Section.

"You're upset that I didn't defend Lily either, aren't you?" Remus understood.

"I can't force you to do anything you don't want to, Remus. Lily and I defend each other. It had always been this way. If you don't want to get involved then I suppose we'll just have to -"

"Severus don't! I want you and Lily to be my friends, I really do! Look, if you don't want me to stay around James or Sirius anymore - "

"I can't impose such a thing on you, Remus. I can't get you to choose between me and Lily or the two of them. I just want us to get along when Lily is around. I don't think it does her any good having to see two Half-bloods in conflict, when she has to wear the war between Muggle-borns and Pure-bloods on her shoulders."

Remus jerked under the seriousness of his voice, though a still pretty high pitched one. He was about to answer him, but Lily approached their table, leaving her book bag on the back of an empty chair.

"Oh, are you two getting along again?" She asked with a fresh smile.

"I told you, Lily, boys reconcile faster than girls do."

"Yeah sure, Sev," she said, playfully punching his shoulder.

Severus knew he wasn't right anyway. If he was, then he and James Potter would have already been best buddies. However anything that could distract Lily for a while, was welcomed.

XXX

"Hey, Lily, would you go get the three Cumin Cucumis?" Severus asked.

Lily nodded briefly and walked to the closet next to Professor Slughorn's desk. Severus checked to see if her attention was completely distracted before he pulled his wand out of his pocket and carefully handled it, hidden beneath his robe. Sabrina was working a few more desks behind him.

She teamed up with a fattier Slytherin girl with golden hair stuck in two pony-tails. Sabrina was paying very close attention to the rat tail that she was slicing into small pieces on a cutting board. Severus seized the opportunity and pointed his wand at her school-bag from which he removed a manual he lightly levitated in his direction. He grabbed it into his hand under the desk and stuffed it into his own bag, just in time for Lily to return with three pieces of brown cucumbers.

After class, Sabrina headed back to the Slytherin's rooms, alongside the girl she had teamed up with, and another very tall and slender one. Lily stood behind in the classroom because Remus asked for her help, saying he didn't remember exactly where in the lab the pomegranate seeds were kept. It was just a diversion and Severus was pleased that Remus had been cooperative because now he could catch up with Sabrina all by himself.

"Sabrina, wait! Here's the manual you forgot back in Charms' class today. I almost forgot to return it to you."

The other two girls gave Sabrina some strange looks. She beckoned for them to leave.

"What do you want, Snape?" She snarled at him once her friends disappeared behind a corner and as she was forcefully grabbing her book.

"You already know what I want, Sicattio."

"I told you, what's going on between me and your little Moodblood friend is not your concern."

"And I told you you're wrong. Why do you have to always attack Lily? She's never done anything wrong to you. "

"Her simple existence is something wrong. Our world would be much better off without those like her!"

"Oh, yeah? Then how come I never see you attacking other wizards with Muggle parents? Why is Lily your favorite target?" Severus asked taking a step closer to her.

"Well, maybe she's the easiest target. Not that I would mind meeting others like her," Sabrina said with an evil smile, moving her head closer to his.

Maybe Sabrina was a little taller than him, but Severus wouldn't let himself intimidated, so he lowered his voice before sending her this message:

"This ends here and now. You will have to confront me before you confront her ever again!"

"Confront you? The Gryffindor's neurosis has gotten to your head. You have no idea whom you're dealing with. I learned how to cast curses before I knew how to fly on a broomstick toy."

"Yeah? Then find out that you are not the only one with parents who have considered it appropriate to equip their child with knowledge in this field," said Severus.

"Hmm, pretty impressive for a Gryffindor, I'll leave you that." Sabrina grinned, rubbing her chin in the meantime. "Then do you really think you got what it takes to challenge me, as it is done, in a duel?"

"Dueling is forbidden in this school. Or maybe you think your Prefect friend will help you break the rules without being noticed?"

"I don't need anyone's help to do this! But of course, if you're too scared ... "

Severus remained rigid under her mocking eyes. A duel sounded as an even more stupid and full of consequences idea than the nightly getaway to the secret tunnel. Sabrina surprised his lack of words with a satiated expression on her round face.

"What about this, Snape? If I win then you will never again involve yourself in my business with Evans, but if you win I promise I will never bother any of you ever again. So what do you say?"

Severus targeted her with his icy eyes. He wasn't at all cowed by her, but could he really trust the word of a Slytherin? Especially this Slytherin?

Sabrina interrupted his thoughtful process of judging his options, by bending her head toward him so that the tips of their noses were almost touching.

"You will let me know when and what you have decided."

Sabrina Sicattio turned her back and walked away with the green hem of her robe floating gently in the cold air of the Dungeons.

XXX

"This was your idea!" Severus accused as he blocked another spell transmitted by Patricia's wand.

"I said confront her, don't provoke her to a duel!" She justified herself before shouting: "Stupefy!"

"Protego! I told you, she challenged me!"

"Look, you're doing everything to defend a friend's honor, so I really don't see what the problem is. Petrificus Totalus!"

"Protego!"

The white light emitted from the tip of Patricia's wand bounced from the small invisible shield around Severus, directly to the branches of a tree and struck a sparrow that fall inert to the ground.

"What the problem is? Dueling is forbidden! We could both get injured, or worse… expelled!"

Patricia shook her head amused while she was defrosting the little bird with a slow twirl of her wand.

"All right, kid. I think you master the shield spell quite well." She admitted watching as the sparrow took flight, getting lost of sight among the crowns of the trees that were surrounding the little hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was the perfect place where they could practice without being interrupted.

"Well thanks, but I can't believe it will be enough if what she says about curses is more than just spurious words."

"Hmm, you said you weren't exactly on the outskirts there either."

"Yes but ... I've never tested them," Severus said slowly, randomly looking at one of the pebbles moistening the earthy ground.

"Well, there's a start for everything, right? Come on!" Patricia urged, pointing at her own body.

"What? Do you want me to test them on you?" Severus asked rising a questioning eyebrow.

"Do you see anyone else around?"

"Patricia-"

"Oh, come on, I think I can handle a little beginner's magic."

Severus was surprised by how her way of lowering his self-esteem was helping him feel better about this whole situation.

"Okay ..." he mumbled, taking a few steps back and straightened his back. He cleared his voice before choosing: "Convolute!"

After a bright, dark-red light, Patricia began to spin on her heels in speed.

"Wow, not baaad kiiiii-id!" She appreciated before saying, "_Finite Incantatem_!"

Patricia stopped twirling around, restoring her balance with ease.

"What else do you have in store?"

"Aedes Voca!"

At the new incantation spoken by Severus, accompanied by a few semicircles drawn in the air and an orange light, a swarm of mosquitoes burst from the Forbidden Forest starting to buzz around Patricia.

Patricia looked at them impressed, even if she casted them away very simply, by using 'Depulso', the charm opposite to the one used to attract objects.

"Creative. But I think this is more of an outdoor spell, don't you?"

"Well we haven't set the duel's place yet. Do you think it should be in the castle?"

"Not necessarily. In fact I would say the forest is a really beautiful place this time of year," Patricia said, looking at the colorful autumn trees behind her.

"The forest?!"

"Just ... calm down, kid. I could suggest some really good dark dueling corridors if you want."

"So you do this quite often," Severus concluded.

Patricia contoured a mysterious smile between her cherry lips.

"That Malfoy boy?" He asked curiously.

"Oh, please, Malfoy couldn't even takedown a Dachshund. He's only words"

A few relatively harmless spells and curses afterwards, Patricia was quite convinced of Severus' abilities. But the jinx that had impressed her most had to be the one he'd invented by himself on one summer in Spinners End. All he had to do was browse some Latin dictionaries and look for spells somewhat similar to what he had in mind, into his mother's old books - Captionem Capillus. It sounded almost melodic. It was rather a succession of spells, but the result was a funny one. It made the hair of the ones attacked stretch to about five feet, then tie around the victim like a rope that made Patricia fall to the ground into a real red cocoon.

"You're wicked, kid." Patricia praised when they were both resting on the grass.

"It's nice to be able to finally turn into reality the things I've only read about until now. But I still don't know if it will be enough."

"Oh, give me a break. We've been doing this for about two hours already. I think there's enough evidence that you're full of resources."

But Severus did not feel too motivated as he picked up a twig and began, absent-mindedly, to take his leaves off one by one.

"Huh, alright, I think there's still time for one more," the Gryffindor girl accepted.

"Well, there is another one I had practiced but ... I don't think it is ... I mean there's no way I can't test this one on you!"

"Oh, intriguing ..." Patricia said, perhaps not using the most responsible tutorial approach.

Severus agreed however to offer her a demonstration by positioning himself to the sapling near the trunk of the adult oak tree behind them, without having to get himself up from the grass.

"Arida Siccum!"

The sapling grew withered, lowering its dry leaves.

"Severus." Patricia said with the first serious face he had seen from her that whole afternoon.

This, and the fact that she had not addressed him with the 'kid', slightly alarmed Severus, who immediately said "Aguamenti!" with a jet of water forming from the tip of his wand, sprinkling the earth around the sapling, returning it as soon as possible, close enough to its original state.

"Kid, that would be a bit ... much."

"Yes I know. I'd never cast it on people, only as a last but last resort."

"To have almost all the water simply dried out of your body ... It could almost be classified next to the Unforgettable Curses."

"I know, I won't use it." He repeated as convincingly as he could. "I'll simply have to find another final reserve."

"I think I can help you about that!" Returned the foxy grin of Patricia, which made Severus breath in relief.

XXX

It was evening when Patricia Rakepick was sure that her new disciple had an unbeatable chance against the haughty gang of the Slytherin house.

Passing by the ragged hut at the edge of the forest, Severus saw Hagrid again, handling some incredibly large pumpkins with a rusty watering can.

Hagrid waved at them. He and Patricia knew each other pretty well.

"Are you getting ready for Halloween, Hagrid?" She asked, comfortably resting her arms on the small wooden fence that separated the vegetable garden from the rest of the grounds around the castle.

"They're bigger this year, eh, a lot to get outta 'em for the kids in the decoration committee. Aren't yeh thinkin' abou' signin' up, are yeh? "

"Meh, art has never been my greatest strength. What about you, Sev?"

Severus felt uncomfortable under Hagrid's dark eyes, even though they were also kind. But he got rescued from answering back by the small, black puppy that was playfully pulling of the end of his robe.

"Oi! Fang! Be a good boy!" Hagrid warned him using a very parenting tone.

But the puppy did not stop until Severus picked him up and handed it over the fence to his rightful owner .

"Ah think he likes yeh," Hagrid noticed as Fang was wagging his tail.

XXX

"Heh, I think you won him already, kid," Patricia was telling him as the hut was getting lost from view behind a small slope, "Hagrid trust everyone his pets trust."

Severus wondered if that was indeed an effective theory. Well, if Fang started licking James, Sirius, or Sabrina, then Hagrid certainly didn't know what he was talking about.

He followed Patricia without paying too much attention to where they were going. It is why he felt as surprised as he could have been when, instead of reaching the massive double wood doors, he noticed they were heading for a tall, circular arena.

"I have to be honest with you. I don't think I'll have the energy to continue our research tonight. Wood's workouts usually leave my muscles aching," Patricia said, flexing her left biceps.

"You play Quidditch?"

"Yup, Seeker," she said breezy.

Severus remembered that between some of the letters united in speed in Sirius and James's conversations about Quidditch he had noticed the '_Rakepick_' formation a few times or so. He felt almost sorry that he had tried so hard to ignore them altogether, because it was certainly an important merit of his friend, the friend who had spent hours of her free time just to train him.

Maybe he owed to her to stay and watch her own training.

The Quidditch Stadium consisted of a huge arena surrounded by hundreds of seats placed in amphitheater, where the entire school could have fit. At both ends of the field were three pillars with some large loops at the top. About six students in red capes with the Gryffindor emblem were flying above them in what Severus would have called a true chaos of balls, some of which were caught, others hit with bats and sent on all different directions.

A boy who didn't stop yelling at each of the other players, came down with an even more annoyed expression when he spotted Patricia.

Rudolph Wood was a seven year, he was not very solid but he was tall and quick in movement. Severus knew him only from sight. All he knew about him was that he was emitting a pungent odor of perspiration almost all the time.

"About time, Rakepick! Where were you at? Oh, you know what, don't even tell me! I'm not going to become your accomplice too!" Wood said, looking suspiciously at Severus.

Patricia rolled her eyes before sending Severus a 'See you later,' and calling up with a simple whistle, her broom that came flying in speed from the changing rooms.

Severus headed for one of the low podiums, struggling to make some sense of the mix of brooms and balls above him. He tried to remember the basic rules of Quidditch. However, they seemed much easier to understand in a text book with suggestive pictures than in real life.

A Quidditch team had seven members. Three of them were called Chasers. Their role was to pass a medium-sized ball called a Quaffle from one to the other and try to throw it through the loops, which would have brought them 10 points each time.

One of the Chasers was Lynch, that boy who had mocked Patricia the night she entered late into the night through the hole behind The Fat Lady's painting.

The next one was a shy boy who was often stuttering and whom Severus remembered studying in the library among the fifth year students who were preparing for their OWLs - the first exams that determined each student's level of knowledge and abilities and gave them a pretty good idea on what subjects should they choose to study in their senior years.

Maybe this was why the Chaser looked as if he wanted to be somewhere else right on that moment, but Wood was certainly not the type to negotiate with.

The third Chaser was a short, tanned girl with curly hair, who seemed the youngest of them all.

Wood was the Keeper, meaning he had to guard his team's poles so that the Chasers of the opposing team couldn't score.

There were two other players named Beaters who were meant to hit with their bats the Bludgers, balls that were spinning around the players trying to push them off their brooms.

Severus often wondered what kind of creep introduced Bludgers into the game. It was as if during the trials of throwing arrows into targets, people had to also avoid other arrows thrown by other people in their direction. Or as if at Golf they should have used their clubs to also hit at the same time let's say… Bowling balls, because the Bludgers were quite heavy.

In any case, the two Beaters of the Gryffindor team were two Japanese siblings of the third year. People were used calling them - the Rin twins: Akina, who was a very energetic girl and always searching for trouble, and Akio, a very smart boy and practically her opposite although on the outside, they both looked almost identical. Akio was always obsessed with following all the rules, and apparently, organizing everything, because Wood had to shout at him to make him stop giving other players suggestions in his place.

As for Patricia, she had the most important role of all, as the Seeker - the one who had to pay constant attention to the field for the moment when the Golden Snitch, a very small and quick ball with flimsy wings, would show up. Once caught, the Golden Snitch would have brought the team 150 points and stopped the entire game, so that some Quidditch matches were much shorter than others.

Patricia was setting free the Snitch as soon as she was getting the hold of it, then she was dodging a few Bladgers, cutting the sky above in order to catch it once again. She could train pretty well on her own as opposed to the three Chasers who had to pass the Quaffle from one to another, or to the twins who had to defend each other's backs from the Bludgers.

Excepting Severus, in the amphitheater were a few other students from the more early years. They looked at the Quidditch team of their House with big eyes, full of admiration. Of course, Sirius, James and Peter were among them. Potter's eyes were mostly focused on Patricia. It was the position he was ... seeking, after all.

There was also standing Olivia Braggle, who didn't take her eyes off Wood and of how he was defending even two loops at once.

Patricia was incredible too, Severus didn't need to be an expert in Quidditch to figure that out.

"What's the matter, Snivy? I thought you believed yourself too good for Quidditch," James spotted him.

Severus sighed shaking his head. It was hard to admit it, but James's constant teasing had become so familiar that it almost gave him a_ home _feeling.

XXX

Severus sighed boredly, pulling a small, striped feather out of his tea cup.

No matter how fascinating it may have seem in his first days at Hogwarts, a flock of owls delivering mail each morning at breakfast was not the most hygienic solution possible.

Remus quickly grasped the newspaper roll brought to him by a fat owl with its feather shade matching his sandy hair color.

Lily, attracted by the moving pictures that could not be found back in the newspapers read by her father, approached Remus in order to look over the articles in his copy of the 'Daily Prophet'. Severus knew that in general, it was covered with statistics from the world of Quidditch, ads for skin refreshing elixirs, worldly news or gossips such as the release of the newest album of the 'Serene Sirens' witch was occupying half of the front page.

Lily and Remus were both absorbed in reading when a thin, black owl about which Severus had no trouble believing it looked exactly like a crow flying in the distance, landed like a small meteorite next to his plate.

Severus was not at all accustomed to receiving correspondence. He turned instinctively to the Slytherin's table and to Sabrina's thick lips arched into a sinister smile. He chose to hide inside his pocket the note untied from the foot of the black owl, especially since Lily got bored when she came to the page about seasonal cloaks.

XXX

"Good day, too beautiful fair lady. Oh, what's this? I see you found yourself a little squire?"

A short, sinewy knight kept following them, crossing from one painting to another on one of the halls Severus had never before been to.

Sabrina had mentioned in her note that she was ready to find out his answer about the duel, underneath the room for Divination, a place Patricia was showing his way to, and which she said it wasn't too popular with students because the teacher was giving them all the creeps.

Severus stopped by the stairs Patricia had shown him and sat down on the stone bench above which the short knight also stopped on a meadow full of ruminant cows.

"Courage, my daring! Your expedition to the famous North Tower has almost reached its end! "

"Oh, just give us a break, sir Cadogan," said Patricia, sitting down next to Severus. "What now, kid?"

Severus didn't turn his head to her. He knew he had to accept Sabrina's challenge. Now it was no longer just Lily's honor in the game, but also Patricia's trust. She would not have been at all satisfied if the one coached by her would have given up so easily.

"Still... if only there was another way ..." He continued his wave of thoughts aloud.

"Other than a duel?" she asked.

"A DUEL?" the excited voice of Sir Cadogan was heard. "Well, why didn't you say so, lad? I can offer you advise! Sword up!"

But the sword raised by the small knight had been heavy enough for him to fall face down under the muzzle of one of the cows annoyed by the one who had just crushed her lunch.

Patricia shook her head unimpressed, suggesting with a glance for Severus to simply ignore him.

"Other than a forbidden duel," he rectified.

Patricia looked contemptuously at the painting on the wall in front of them where a young lady was giggling from her tower toward Sir Cadogan who was getting back up aided by the sword he had stabbed into the grass.

"Well maybe there is one. You know, when I was like you there was a Dueling Club in the school. "

"A club?"

"Yeah, students met about twice a week, they received tips from each other, we were making small competitions, and our DADA teacher from then, Mr. Bagnold, always taught us new protection spells."

"Do you think ... you think Tenebris would do the same?" Severus began to see where Patricia was trying to get at.

"Well, last time, McGonagall banned the club when one kid turned another kid's teeth into cockchafers."

Severus gave her a suspicious look.

"It wasn't me!" She defended herself. "Anyway, I think it was just the last straw for her. I mean, a boy almost set his opponent's robe on fire once. And I think she felt offended that someone chose to use for something like that one of the transfigurations taught by her."

"Then why do you think she'll change her mind this time?"

"Eh, I have a hunch ..."

From the mysterious and self-confident expression which Severus had grown at this point accustomed to seeing at her, he knew he would have to blindly trust her words again.

All he had left to do was convince Sabrina that a dueling club was a far better idea than a forbidden duel at midnight.

He climbed the last steps to the Divination class alone, accompanied by Sir Cadogan's battle cries echoing along the hallway.

"At war, brave valiant! I'll be waiting for you right here if you ever come back in one piece!"

His manner of encouragement was certainly a very unique one.

Severus finally understood what the girls had meant by: '_below the Divination's class room'_, when he noticed on the ceiling a circular hatch with a brass plate attached to it. As usual, Sabrina made her appearance from a shady corner.

At first she had thought that Severus was only trying to save himself some time, but after he explained he would personally take care of convincing the professors, Sabrina decided that it would have been far more pleasant for her if she had spectators when she will sweep the floor with him.

Everything was settled.


	9. Chapter 9

**Well, at least this world-wide pandemic we're facing, has given me the perfect opportunity to finish translating this chapter a little bit sooner than I expected. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter IX

\- Playing with fire –

Professor Vega Tenebris' office looked like one of those haunted mansions Lily used to drag him along on Halloween nights in Cokeworth. In the corners were set spider webs, the teacher most likely keeping them there on purpose instead of simply removing them. The black wooden desk was dusted and covered by numerous candles with molten wax, which were also the only light source in the room as far as some very dark purple curtains were drawn to all the windows. From place to place you could see narrow shelves filled with books with faded covers and chipped tips. Behind the teacher's chair was a huge painting of a tall, slim man with black licked hair, a high collar, a lime-white face and sharp fangs linked into a strange smile. The figure had watched Severus and Patricia the entire time they've been there, his red eyes blinking not even once.

"Yes, Miss Rakepick I am well aware dangers await us after each and every corner in this unfair life of ours, but I do not believe a few extra defense skills will make the difference in the face of the inevitable."

The woman was a real piece of sunshine...

"I can't deny that, of course, Professor, but still, one more chance has never hurt no one." Patricia tried to persuade her.

Tenebris looked at her thoughtfully or at least Severus considered so. It was kind of hard to tell through her long, black bang.

"After all, we all live in dark times. With this war becoming more and more obvious, you can't even tell whom you can trust anymore. Today here, tomorrow nobody can guarantee ..."

Professor Tenebris nodded approvingly and insistently. Patricia certainly knew how to reach everyone's language.

"It's why is important for us all to learn from early ages how to fight to defend ourselves and our beloved ones. Younger students ... " here Patricia turned her head toward Severus" ... they can learn something from the older ones. It might be the only hope we all have in this great ocean of despair!"

Tenebris seemed impressed by the last metaphor because she agreed on taking the matter further to Headmaster Dumbledore and to the Deputy Headmistress - meaning McGonagall.

When they left the funereal atmosphere of the office, Severus thought that Patricia deserved some congratulations on her manipulation techniques that would have made even a Slytherin proud, but before he could hand them over, he remembered a certain query about something he wasn't exactly convinced whether or not it was another metaphorical term used by the girl.

"You were saying something about a war?"

Patricia paused in amazement.

"What? You're telling me you haven't heard yet?"

"Well I... I ..." Severus began shyly. "I've kinda lived in the Muggle World till now."

"Ah, well that would explain it ..." she said knowingly before calling him to take a seat next to her on a bench near an upholstery with patterns woven into tiny symbols of crossed swords.

"I guess you've already formed an idea of what divides our world."

"The Purebloods? Those who hate Muggles and those born in their families?" He guessed.

"Precisely enough ... And you see, one of this type of wizards rose above the others. He motivated them, he promised them a better world, a world not dominated by Muggles and a world where Muggleborns would be marginalized so that those with pure blood could take the place they think they rightly deserve. And this dark wizard is willing to resort to any means to get there. It is believed he hasn't gathered too many supporters just yet, and this is why most people choose to consider him a minor threat. But he gets stronger even as we're speaking right now."

"But did he ..." Severus started with a wiped voice"... ever killed a Muggleborn?"

"It all happened about a year ago ..." Patricia took on an unusually gloomy expression. "There was a family of Muggles to whom something truly extraordinary had happen - both of their children were wizards, they received their letters, but ... let's just say they didn't have any family or home left to return to on summer break."

Severus felt as if the ripple effect of angst that Professor Tenebris' office should have transmitted to him, had only waited for the right moment to spread through his soul.

"And over the ruins of what had remained, a symbol made of a green light representing a skull and a snake appeared in the night sky. The newspapers have been loaded with this picture for several months, until the Ministry, feed up with the panic generated among people, intervened. After that there've been a few street attacks. The attackers were raising a curse or two on those they somehow knew had Muggle relatives, disappearing then without a trace. Always disguised, so that panic has made some people a little paranoid. They began to accuse their friends thinking they're the ones who assaulted them. Some don't go anywhere anymore without keeping a vigilant eye about all the time. And as days go by, the attacks on them and on Muggles are becoming the more and more frequent. It may not be a typical war like those in which Sir Cadogan praised himself he took part, but one thing is for sure - there are two armies, two sides and we must determine sooner than later which one we want to join."

The serious tone used by Patricia put a cold chill through Severus' spine.

"And ... who is this wizard?" He cared asking her though.

"Some are already starting to fear even mentioning his name. Well, I guess it's not exactly a real name, he just likes being called this way."

Severus didn't quit looking at her persistently. After verifying that no one else was around, she whispered close to his ear: "Voldemort."

XXX

It seemed that McGonagall had agreed to set up the dueling club faster than Severus or Patricia thought she would, or, anyway, Dumbledore certainly had because just the following day, a parchment approved by the Headmaster has been posted on the notice board.

The idea seemed to attract many because Severus could hardly read over top of their heads.

"You're thinking of signing up again, aren't you Rakepick?"

"Maybe, how about you, Lynch? Maybe I'll leave you a chance this time."

Lynch's upper lip tightened.

"That was year two! Know that I've learned a few new tricks since then!"

Patricia crossed her arms unconcerned.

Severus had noticed this too during the Gryffindor team's Quidditch training. Between Patricia and Livius Lynch seemed to exist some sort of ongoing rivalry.

Just as Patricia had suggested to Professor Tenebris, in the Great Hall, where the first meeting of the duelists was held, students of all years had come. In fact, it seemed like the whole school was there, even Dumbledore, who was watching amused as the Rin twins were sending silly but harmless spells from one to another, like the one that made them both cough with chicken flakes.

Severus applauded Patricia when she had made Lynch's clothes tighten on him so small, that boy stepped off the stage with a penguin-like walk and accompanied by students' laughter.

Dumbledore smiled too, especially since Lynch looked more angry than humiliated. Instead, Professor Mcgonagall shook her head disapprovingly as Patricia jumped off the stage into the cheers of twins who weren't spiting feathers anymore.

"Wow, you were wicked! Do you think you may have some tips for us too?" Asked willingly James Potter, who of course has been the first in Severus' year to sign up on the dueling list. And where he was going, Sirius and Peter were not far away either. Severus only wished Lily and Remus hadn't done the same for him.

As they found out he had signed up, Remus said that indeed, a dueling club seemed like a great idea. Surely he knew about the war mentioned by Patricia, after all he had lived in the Wizarding World his entire life. In this case, Severus was grateful that he hadn't chirp anything about it to Lily. And Lily, she probably just wanted to try as many new magical experiences as possible.

Severus smiled peacefully looking at the place where Remus and Lily were practicing. They were both laughing on their backs, after Remus's shield spell had somehow backfired, and Lily's tickling jinx had burst on the both of them.

Sabrina was training with an older student, predictably - Lucius Malfoy, who was showing her what posture she should take by correcting the position of the forearm in which she was holding her wand. Severus noticed that she was left-handed. He wondered if this could have been a disadvantage for her in a duel.

"Hey, Snivellus. What do you say, we try?" James asked, pointing at the scene where McGonagall was scolding a Ravenclaw who made the tongue of a Hufflepuff swell like a balloon.

From behind James, Severus saw Patricia winking at him. He was not quite sure of her strategy, but Patricia had suggested earlier that he better not duel Sabrina Sicattio directly, in order not to make the conflict between them a public one, especially under the sharp eyes of their Transfiguration teacher. But of all the candidates she could have chosen as an initial opponent, she just had to pick James Potter?

"Take a bow, then at three ..." Tenebris instructed as Severus and James climbed the golden scene from opposite directions.

James leaned forward just a smidge. Severus didn't know if he intended it as to show him as little respect as possible or because he didn't want to risk slipping down his eyeglasses.

If he were to think about it, James Potter was dependent on his glasses. Severus wondered if studying the weaknesses of his opponents before a battle was a typical Gryffindor thing to do.

"Flipendo!"

He hadn't even managed to raise his head back from the bow when he felt smacked to the ground by James's spell.

James greeted him with a satisfied smile, but his momentary swim in glory turned him into an unprepared target when Severus, without getting up, pointed his wand at him shouting:

"Convolute!"

James began to spin around in speed. His glasses would have fallen off if he hadn't pushed them back just in time, but with his other hand, though still in pirouettes, he began to spread rays of azure light throughout the room saying: "_Impulsa!_" over and over again.

One of them had hit Sabrina's chubby friend whose pony tails fluttered upward as the girl gritted her electrified teeth.

Professor McGonagall bent down so that another ray could touch only the tip of her hat, but Tenebris's reflexes were not as fast. At least under her spiked-up bang, the mystery of her eye color has finally been solved - hazel. Severus was almost expecting red like those of the vampire from the painting in her office.

However, James did not lie back in the boys' bedroom when he praised himself about his trigger skills because Severus has been hit as well after all. He felt his bones warm up for a second, then his skin trembling all over his body as if it were about to peel down from it, while his black curls were rising up into the air. It had been enough for his own spell to break, for James to be set free from spinning.

Severus could hear Sirius' laughter and Peter's squeaking through the crowd watching them. This inspired him to make the next move before James could recover from his dizziness.

"Cerebrum Glacies!"

James pressed his hands against the sides of his head, screaming angrily under the cold chills that have engulfed his brain which Severus had always considered small enough to recover quickly.

"STUPEFY" James replied sharply.

In a split of a second, Severus has been slammed into the distance, hitting his back hard enough when he has encountered the concrete ground.

Even from this position, Severus could distinguish the victory that could already be read from James Potter's face. Fortunately, though, he had a slightly more inventive idea of how a final shot should look like.

"Captionem Capillus!"

Once again he didn't get up from the ground in order to create an effect of unpredictability, managing to target his opponent even from down there.

James's arms had been squeezed to his sides by his own elongate hair, enable now to use his hands. He also fell to the ground, dragging and rolling around like a huge, hairy, spiky worm.

Severus rose back to his feet as he got to be the one giving the last smirk.

"And this round goes to... Mr. Snape," announced Tenebris, who was still trying to rearrange her bang over her face using a comb decorated with small, dark crystals.

Several students, including Lily and Patricia, acclaim him, some of them laughing at James' situation, while Peter and Sirius rushed to help him get out of the black-tresses trap. They haven't been very successful until McGonagall came to them, returning James Potter's hairstyle to its original thistle shape. James gave him a resentful look, but Severus didn't mind him anymore as he elegantly stepped down from the podium.

"Wow, you okay, Sev? Oh, you showed him!" Lily praised him, running her hand through his hair which Severus suspected didn't look much different from James' right at the moment.

"Yeah. But I don't remember that spell," Remus joined them.

"Indeed, Mr. Lupin."

All three of them turned instantly to McGonagall.

"I would like to clarify that magical experiments are not exactly welcomed, especially ... when tested on fellow students, Mr. Snape."

"Oh, come on now, Minerva, it was a harmless one," suddenly from behind them appeared the gentle voice of Albus Dumbledore. "I just think Mr. Snape did not exactly choose the right opportunity to amaze us with his creativity."

Severus caught a strange spark in the Headmaster's blue eyes.

McGonagall didn't seem, however, to share Dumbledore's point of view, but she withdrew with nothing more to add, next to Professor Tenebris who was assisting a first-year Hufflepuff girl affected by the pimples - eruption - jinx.

Dumbledore widened his gaze from Severus to Lily and Remus before making his way through the dueling pairs, turning his back decorated by a purplish robe with a silver stars pattern.

An entire hour has passed while all Severus did was some gentle dueling training with Lily and Remus. There was only time left for about two more stage duels, when Severus dared to approach the two Slytherins.

"Pretty funny what you did there to the Potter kid, shrimp," said Lucius Malfoy.

"Yeah, Snape. You're almost an opponent worth my time."

At least Sabrina's salty reply was a plausible reason for Severus to challenge her then and there.

"Don't forget, for any eventuality ..." Patricia whispered before Severus climbed the golden podium for the second time.

Patricia had taught him many precaution tricks, regarding that he couldn't have complained. Although she had assured him that Malfoy was nothing but a boasting whiner, she had also mentioned that his family was known for promoting dark magic.

Severus didn't hate dark magic either. It was different than the usual one, more unpredictable, more exciting, but at the same time he knew how to cope with it. Still, the method learned from Patricia, although not involving dark magic per se, was a mixture of cunning and ingenuity that could not fail.

Lily hadn't been as keen as Patricia to see him fighting Sabrina Sicattio. Severus didn't know whether or not Lily suspected that the reason for their duel was actually her.

He was beginning to consider himself one of those tennis or volleyball players who always shy away from throwing the ball first over the net, waiting for their opponents to make the first move, because he held almost no resistance to the prime spell sent by Sabrina on him - Palentesque - or the feet-glued-to the-floor jinx.

He got stuck in place immediately, but his arms remained as flexible as ever as he shouted: "Expeliarum!"

Her left hand was easy to target for Severus' right one, but that made her wand harder to catch as it flew to the right hand in which he was holding his own magic weapon.

Sabrina's light-gray wand fell just inches in front of him, but, as his feet were still pasted, she was faster to retrieve it.

"Nice try, Snape! Glacius!"

Not only his legs but the rest of Severus' body from below the waist, was now locked inside a giant ice cube.

There were some surprised sounds among the crowd of spectators. McGonagall looked at both of them with great attentiveness, and Dumbledore was no longer there to defend him - which meant he would surely have gone into trouble, but he could not think of any other more appropriate spell to release himself from Sabrina's trap.

"Incendio!"

He had to be extra careful so that the flames would only melt the ice around him and not penetrate his clothes. It seemed that he had inspired Sabrina to shot him with flames bursting from the tip of her wand.

"Aquamenti!"

The water that streamed through his wand had met the girl's fire, practically annihilating each other in a steam cloud.

With the tail of his eye, Severus saw McGonagall taking a step closer to the podium. But the inflammatory spells on the list of forbidden school dueling tactics were next to nothing compared to what Sabrina had done to him afterwards.

"Caeli Prohibere!"

Severus felt all his airways blocked. He grabbed his own throat, trying in vain to catch some air.

"He's suffocating!" There was the loud scream of Olivia Braggle.

In a glimpse of a second, Severus could notice the terrified faces of Lily and Remus, the expressions of Sirius and James who looked as if they had just suddenly stopped laughing, the revolt in Patricia's eyes, Malfoy's grin and McGonagall pulling out her wand.

Unable to speak a word, Severus knew it was the perfect time for him to try his first silent spell. He closed his eyes with the words of the common counter-spell wrapped up in his mind and hoping desperately that it would work.

And just before the raised-up foot of their Tansfiguration teacher could reach the stage, Severus inhaled a mouth full of air, gasping released. He could hear Lily and Remus joining him breathing in relief.

Sabrina looked at him in shock, and McGonagall's eyes were now threateningly frowning at her.

Severus knew that she would have reacted the same way, if not even angrier, if he had used the curse for drying water from inside the body. Even so, he was still left with one last seemingly harmless, yet fun trick taught by Patricia Rakepick.

"Initium Chao!"

Sabrina closed her eyes preparing herself to feel whatever effect his spell had. When she opened them up and checked herself by moving her arms and legs freely, she gave Severus a mocking grin.

"Epans, eb ot desoppus siht saw tahw dna?"

Sabrina covered her mouth with her hands and the room burst into laughter.

"Eht tahw?! Metatnacni etinif! Metatnacni etinif!"

Severus smiled. The counter-spell sounded pretty funny when said backwards. His luck that Sabrina didn't know how to initiate magic without speaking, because his spell has only affected her voice. Inside her mind, words were still flowing as before.

As for Severus' counter-spell, it seems that not only had it helped him escape from the suffocation course, but also from his sticky feet.

Sabrina struggled with something that ranged the backwards variant for _Stupefy_. Tenebris declared Severus the winner again, while canceling the charm put on Sabrina.

"What the? It's not fair!" She used her first replies turned back to normal. "He cheated! The jinx of chaotic speech is not allowed in legalized duels! "

"Oh, yeah, and the blocking breath curse is?"

Patricia intervened, approaching Severus from behind Remus and Lily who was hugging him so tightly that Severus felt chained under Sabrina's curse again.

"But it wasn't on the banned list!" Complained the Slytherin girl.

"I thought it was self-evident, Miss Sicattio," McGonagall said sternly.

Sabrina growled, flushed with anger, but canceled any undue remark she had yet left to offer.

"Although, indeed, Initium Chao, though vaguely known, would represent an unfair technique in a planned duel…"

The professor's eyes were fixed on Patricia more than on him. Severus wondered if Patricia had used the same spell when she was in her second year at Hogwarts.

"However, it might be useful knowledge in a real duel."

This time McGonagall was looking at Severus, almost admissibly.

"Even so, I think the most justifiable thing to do would be to completely cancel the verdict of this round. What do you think, Vega?"

"Huh? Ah, yes yes, as you say, Minerva," Vega woke up from her daily dreamlike state.

"And Miss Sicattio, I suppose I'll have something quite exciting to discuss with Professor Slughorn next time I happen to see him."

Sabrina looked even more challenged, but she bowed her head defeated, before McGonagall pulled away.

"So, um, does this mean it's sort of tie?" Remus asked puzzled.

"Eh, rather her creative way of transmitting us the message: When both cheat, both lose," said Patricia.

"Cheat? But he hasn't cheated!" Lily protested, "Sabrina could have killed Sev!"

"She's right. I mean, I knew her family didn't reject dark magic completely, but I didn't think she would go this far," Remus said.

"Hmm, I wouldn't be surprised if Malfoy had something to do with it," Patricia continued, looking for the blond pony tail of the boy sitting next to Sabrina, both of them discussing tensely.

"Wow! You were incredible!"

"Sicattio stood no chance!"

"Where did you learn to duel like that?"

"Could you teach me the charm for backwards talking?"

"Oh, I want the one with the stretched-out hair!"

Severus was attacked by the questions of the students from his year who had gathered around him as soon as the two professors announced the ending of the club's meeting for that day.

He casted a glance at Patricia, begging for her help.

"Hey, guys, I think Severus had experienced enough suffocation for a day, don't you? Maybe he can give you all some demonstrations sometime later."

The younger students understood. That little Hufflepuff girl who had been cured from the pimples-eruption-jinx seemed the most disappointed.

Anyway, it was time for everyone to leave, and the hall gradually cleared of students who were streaming out in rows. Some of the older ones remained behind in order to help bringing and placing back the four long tables.

"I hope you know it's not over, Snape!"

Severus turned really not surprised at Sabrina.

"You heard McGonagall. Neither of us won, it means our deal fails! But something I think still worked out for you. Evans won't be my first target from here now on!"

"You think I'm afraid of you, Sicattio?" Severus replied.

"You haven't seen anything yet, mark my words!" Sabrina hissed before joining the last group of Slytherins leaving the Great Hall.

Severus met Remus's glance, who immediately looked intently at the poster he was trying to pull down from the wall, rolling it gradually with a simple spell. The poster depicted two duelists propelling luminous rays at each other and bending to avoid them every two seconds.

Severus decided to give him a pass at least this time around, letting Remus and Lily finish collecting the posters. He turned to Patricia, who was coordinating the Rin twins. The both of them were each holding an end of one of the benches belonging to the Gryffindor table, trying to position it as straight as possible.

"You were amazing for a freshmen, kid! Aneko surely showed you a little something," Akina said, looking in Patricia's direction.

"Yes, but it was a little risky, too. You know you almost set your own clothes on fire, right?" Said Akio, who got tired and sat down on the just placed bench.

"Oh, just let him enjoy his victory, bro. Nobody burned alive, didn't it?"

"Dim luck is not a reason for us to underestimate the role of interdictions, Akina."

Akina rolled her eyes before moving to the second bench and punching her brother in the shoulder for him to follow her.

"Aneko?" Severus asked as he and Patricia were leaving the hall.

"Ah, yeah, that ... it means big sister in Japanese. Yeah. I helped them join the Quidditch team last year. Heh, they like to find special names for all their friends. Hey, maybe we can get you one too!"

Severus wondered what his name translated into Japanese sounded like. Well, one thing was certain, nothing could have been worse than_ Snivellus_.

* * *

**Okay, so maybe dueling chapters have never been my favorites, not even in the original books. I prefer actual free-feeling adventure chapters or more psychologically (or morally) oriented ones. **

**Half of the spells used by the characters in this story were little things I made up myself, so it was a little bit more complicated to write than most other chapters, mostly because I had to turn my head to my ideas-notebook every time somebody was casting something. But in a way, it was actually fun inventing new jinxes or spells, trying to figure out what they shall do and which color they fit best, than finding something that sounds cool in Latin to go along with them.**

** Anyway, I realize I made Severus and Sabrina a bit OP with their magic abilities in this. I mean they just in their first year, so maybe I really did exaggerated, but I guess I had to point out how smart they both are and how weird and obsessive their magical parents have been in trying to prepare their knowledge in spells and curses even before joining Hogwarts. They also both had older students to mentor them teaching them new tricks, so I tried to have it make at least a bit of sense, I sure hope it worked.**

**Also, fun fact - Snape spelled backwards is Epans, quite close to Lily's family name. I don't know if J. K. made this on purpose or not, but it sure is kinda cute.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Target of Tarnation

"I got to admit, at your age, I could barely make a rubber ball jump on its own without having to throw it," said Darren Tickcorn, a very chubby fifth-year boy with a cheerful face and shiny, golden hair.

"Don't encourage him, Big D, he could have set the whole room on fire!" Olivia Braggle remembered, folding her arms, disapprovingly.

Akio Rin nodded briefly.

"Oh, come on! With these skills in a few years you can become a top duelist, kid, you could even surpass Flitwik!" Said Rudolf Wood.

Olivia's cheeks flushed and Patricia smirked in her direction, amused.

The older students were not much different from the younger ones. But Severus felt strange knowing that he had their admiration, though a little embarrassed to have everyone gathered around him and perched on the armchairs or on the comfy, dark red carpet.

However, he knew very well a certain Gryffindor who would not be as appreciative of his duelist qualities.

He hadn't even managed to pull out his wand when James sent the pimples-eruption-jinx toward him. But what had really surprised him was when that jinx ended up countered in a wall by Remus' shielding spell.

"Seriously now, James! Severus won fair and square!" He said, lowering his unicorn hair wand.

Severus had the impression that James would retaliate when he noticed the reproachful look he was throwing Remus, but he only pressed his foot forcefully on the floor before returning to the table where Sirius was arranging the pieces on a chessboard.

"Thank you," Severus said as he approached the edge of the bed where Remus sat down.

"You would have done the same for me," Remus smiled. "That is, at least before I turned my back on you. But it won't happen again, you will see!"

Severus sat down next to him. Remus was struggling so hard to regain his trust, but something in his voice and in his eyes that were a fainter green than Lily's, but full of hope just like hers, made him realize that those were sincere words.

He returned the smile, reassuringly, and Remus relaxed pushing his back into the pillows before showing him a comic book borrowed from Lily.

"Where have you been, Pete?" Sirius asked as the shorter Gryffindor opened the door. He was sweating as if he had run all the way to the tower.

"Oh, P-pringle made me mop, s-something about me leaving foot prints," Peter stammered.

"Pfft, crazy old guy ..." James murmured as he urged one of his pawns to approach Sirius' black tower.

"So, between you and Sabrina ..." Remus decided it was the right time to bring up the topic, while Peter pulled out a stool to have a better view at the chess match.

"I know the situation doesn't look very good, but she is just another student like you and I. As long as there are also professors in this school, she won't try anything out of the ordinary," Severus assured him, convinced of himself.

"I don't know, Severus, that last curse was kind of out of the ordinary."

Severus had to admire the logic in his reasoning, but he wouldn't let Sabrina's threats worry him.

She told him that from now on she would target him before Lily. Of course, to a pampered Slytherin, that must have been a real disadvantage, but to him it was nothing but a great relief.

XXX

Many times during the night Severus was having dreams so scattered and mixed up that he couldn't remember them at all when he was waking up. But when he heard a strange _Bang!_ and felt as if seeing a lightning-yellow spark, he realized that the effects were a little too realistic.

He opened his eyes, clutching the blanket in his hands. The curtains of his bed weren't drawn that night because Remus wouldn't stop whispering to him a fully detailed anecdote, before he fell asleep. Somehow the _'Kung Fu Kangaroo Himalayan Adventure'_ rendered in Lily's comic book had reminded Remus about a mountain trip with his uncle.

Above him, Severus noticed some kind of smoke accompanied by a few small sparkles that were gradually dying out. It was certain, someone had tried to enchant him during his sleep!

His eyes instantly fell on James Potter, who was switching in the most ridiculous positions in his bed, trying to find the most comfortable one possible. Severus wondered if James was such a good actor, or such a grubby wizard to attack someone who was sleeping.

All he knew for sure was that someone had been there. Studying himself for a bit, nothing was different. Maybe it was one of those spells that needed more time to take effect, as did some of the healing ones. He lay back on his mattress, though he knew all too well that he would not close an eye until morning.

XXX

"But are you really sure it was James?" Remus asked at Breakfast.

"You saw him yesterday, he would do anything to get revenge for defeating him at the Dueling Club," Severus replied before taking another sip from his pumpkin juice.

"Yeah, but ... James prefers fair fights."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, most of the time ..."

Severus shushed him as Lily approached their table.

"Sorry I'm late, guys. Crookshanks made himself a nest out of Courtney's clothes. And Courtney was very angry. I told you before, she's allergic and she said that if she ever finds orange hairs near her stuff again, she'll kick him out of the bedroom!" She said troubled, slumping on the bench, next to Severus.

"No problem, Lily, if that happens, he can stay the nights with us. We're not allergic, right, Severus? "

"No. But I guess Pettigrew is," Severus said, handing Lily the toast tray.

"Peter? What makes you say that?" Remus asked.

"Mm," Severus said with a mouth full of toast. "He's allergic to almost everything."

Truth been told, Peter Pettigrew was pretty much the opposite of everything the lion's House entailed. He was not athletic as James or Sirius, nor resistant as Severus or Remus (who never needed more than a day to be released from Hospital Wing), nor was he a bit of both as Lily.

Peter was often stumbling even on his own two feet, had a really slow thinking, and was stammering or falling silent every time a professor was asking him something, even things with obvious or rhetorical answers such as: 'Mister Pettigrew, where's your tie?' or 'Mister Pettigrew, if you've done this disaster anyway, why don't you lend me a hand and clean up what you spilled out of your cauldron?'

It seemed incredible to Severus that James and Sirius had never made fun of Peter. Well, except when they were pranking him, but the three of them were always laughing together afterwards.

And that day, in the Library, as Severus was searching in the _'Myths and Legends'_ section for something that might have given him any clue about the Cursed Vaults, Peter kept following him down the same aisle between the shelves. It didn't take Severus long to lose his patience.

"Can I help you find something?" He asked, unfriendly.

"Uh, n-no, n-not exactly, I-I-I, you see, I ..." Peter began with his classical, annoying disconcertedness. "I just wanted to congratulate you on yesterday's duel!"

Severus did not let his guard down. It could just as well have been a new prank devised by James and Sirius, who were often using Peter as a decoy.

"Which one of them?"

"Oh! The one with that Slytherin girl, of course. But you also arranged J-james quite nicely. "

"Hm, weird to hear that coming from you," Severus said coldly.

"Oh-heh ... You know how it goes ... I know how to appreciate a strong wizard when I see one."

Peter Pettigrew probably had the impression that he was flattering him, but all Severus saw was a pathetic, little boy who would change sides depending on who seemed more likely to win. That was not friendship for it was not loyalty. Severus knew that if he were to accept him, Peter would trade him for the next kid who might manage to turn his goblet into a real-life dragon or something like that. He didn't need such a friend, he'd better leave him be James' and Sirius' problem.

"Aha. Well, if that was all ... "

"No-no, actually ... I was wondering if you had any advice for me, uh, you know, how could I become more cool, like you."

"Cool?" Severus asked slowly.

"Yeah, the way you ignore everyone when they bother you and you always answer them back sarcastically, or the way you sit with the older kids and they don't tell you '_Go away, pipsqueak!'_ and even that girl, Rakepick, who everyone says it's a jinx, but you're not scared to hang out with her, and your hair ... "

"My... hair?"

Severus had heard many adjectives attributed to his hair, but he was certain _cool_ was not one of them.

"Y-yeah. I mean, mine is so boring and ordinary that all I could do was hide it altogether, see?"

At first, Severus had believed that ridiculous cap with the symbol of their house was just an exclusive propaganda Peter was doing for the Quidditch season that was due to start in a few weeks.

"Aha. So... done now?"

"Ah, yes, you're a guy who knows how to capitalize on his time, I understand that. Uh, sorry I bothered you, uh, see you later! Uh, what are you up to today after classes?"

"Oh, a bit of that, a bit of this, you know how it goes. You can never know what life's got in store for you."

As Severus had intended, he had probably said something typical of a cool boy or whatever Peter called them, because he had finally agreed to leave.

Severus returned to his search among titles, only he had seen most of them already scattered on Patricia's research table. Perhaps he could have checked in every Merlin's writing, though Patricia had certainly tried that too, and Merlin, if he had truly intended for the Cursed Vaults to never be discovered, then he surely hadn't let anything escape.

XXX

Two days had passed in which James Potter hadn't initiated anything against him. In fact, if Severus were to think about it, James was quieter around him and seemed to be struggling to ignore him. Some would have called this hostility, but for Severus it was a real blessing. Peter, on the other hand, was holding on to him as sticky as maple syrup.

But on the bright side, at least he didn't need to worry about Sabrina for a while. She was busy all week scrubbing every cauldron used in Slughorn's classes, as a punishment the two Heads of their Houses had agreed on. Severus would have added some extra snail mucus into his cauldron if he hadn't known all too well that would ruin his potion.

And the moments when they were seeing each other were, fortunately, increasingly rare.

"I'm sure surprised seeing you here, Snape. I thought that after all this time you would realize that you are simply not meant to take off and you would eventually give up on your own."

Severus placed his broomstick back on the grass and turned to face her with a very bored gaze.

"Not as surprised as I am, Sicattio. I thought Slughorn would keep you too busy all week to take part in ... sport recreations."

"Oh snap!" Said Peter, who had also remained on the ground, taking advantage of the fact that Sirius and James were far above them and could not hear him.

Sabrina shot Peter a calculated look but decided to ignore him.

"What are you waiting for? Hop up already!" Madam Hooch's voice was loud and clear.

Once in the air, Peter tried to fly high enough to reach Sirius and James, who were passing an ordinary ball from one to the other, not a Quiddich one, but they were able to create competitive exercise out of literally anything.

Severus flew close to the ground and to Remus, as he was usually doing. Sometimes Remus's chubby owl, Oakflake, would fly around them until Madam Hooch would chase it away, calling them to pay more attention to her tumultuous stunts, though to Severus they were all looking quite the same.

However, it was as if his broom was trying to get him higher and higher that day, no matter how much he wanted to lower it by tightening its wooden stick.

"Uh, everything all right, Severus?" Remus worried.

Severus didn't answer as he felt his broom shaking beneath him.

"Severus ... Maybe it would be better if you-"

But Remus didn't finish his sentence because Severus' broom dashed through the sky as if it had a conscience of its own.

Severus gripped his broom tighter for dear life. It hurried past classmates whose faces he could not recognize and whom he almost knocked down.

"Was that ..."

"I don't believe it..."

"Snivellus?"

Severus could make out the shocked voices of Sirius and James. So that's how high he had reached!

He tried to make a U-turn when he approached the castle towers menacingly. He heard Madam Hooch shouting after him and advancing like a rocket coming from behind him, but the distance between him and her seemed difficult to cover.

He managed to avoid the sharp tip of one of the domes, only that made him lower his broom towards the brick wall. He closed his eyes ready for the impact, but instead of feeling pain, he found himself pulled back by the hood of his robe.

When he opened his eyes he saw with a gaping mouth the statue of the Gargoyle holding him tightly in his stone, yet somehow flexible arms.

"Oh, thank Heavens!" Madame Hooch stopped beside him, breathing heavily and with one hand over her beating chest. "You can let go now."

Severus didn't know if she was talking to him or to the Gargoyle, because under no circumstance did he feel ready to come out of the grip that was separating him from the crushing ground.

He hardly agreed to let himself be picked up by the professor, clinging tightly to her flight robe.

"Broom ... cursed ..." It was all he managed to articulate.

"Do you think I didn't realize that, boy?" Madam Hooch asked, watching the broom still spinning around them with no precise direction.

Severus didn't dare to detach himself from her until the tip of the professor's broomstick had touched the grass.

Several curious students came down as well.

Sirius and James remained up high. They looked at him with interest, smiling mischievously when they met his eyes. Sabrina smiled similarly, behind Marry McDonald and one of her Slytherin friends.

"You have nothing to see here!" The professor snapped at them. "Snape, do you need me to take you to Madame Pomfrey?"

"No, I'm fine," he said, though he wasn't very convinced of his own words.

"Very well, then I want you right away in front of the Headmaster's office door. I'll be there soon, too. Wait for me and don't go in without me. Do you know where the Headmaster's office is? "

"Uh, I know! I'll show him how to get there," Remus offered, shyly raising his hand.

Lily didn't even ask for permission to accompany them. It was quite obvious that she would not have had it any other way.

"Sev, what was that? What happened to your broomstick? Are broomsticks like motorcycles? Because I once heard of one that got out of control and threw its rider into an electric fence."

"No, Lily, it certainly wasn't a technical failure, it was a curse," Remus said.

Lily winced.

Severus shot Remus an accusing look. Lily saw that.

"All right, guys," she lowered her voice. "It already happens for some time now. I can't shake the feeling that you two are trying to hide something from me. Sev, I thought we were friends, best friends! And best friends don't keep secrets from each other!"

Severus sighed. Lily was sweet as a flower, but more stubborn than a rodeo bull. She wouldn't stop until she would get everything out from them.

"Lily, look, I ... I just wanted you not to worry. It's Sabrina. That duel was not at all random. I had planned everything with her in advance. Patricia and I convinced Tenebris to set up the Club so that our duel would not be against the rules, although some of the techniques she used were. If I had won, then she would have sworn to leave you alone. But as she felt humiliated by my last spell, she promised that she would do her best to take her revenge on me from now on."

Severus moistened his lips a little. He had the impression that he had confessed everything in one breath, though those were not the only facts he was trying to hide away from Lily.

Lily said nothing but stared right into his eyes. She didn't look angry, just kind of disappointed.

"So you think it was Sabrina?" Remus asked suddenly, breaking the silence between them.

But Severus paid no attention to him. Remus had led them down a corridor where he had never been before.

"Uh, Remus? Where are we?" Lily practically took the question out his mouth.

"The West Towers. It is also the way to the Ravenclaw rooms, but Dumbledore's office is a little bit closer."

Severus wondered how did Remus know where the Headmaster's office was. Did he ever got into trouble that no one else knew about?

They turned a corner and stopped in front of a statue depicting another Gargoyle, larger and more wrinkled than the one that had saved Severus' life.

"It won't open unless we tell it the password," Remus explained, pointing to the statue.

Lily looked curiously at the Gargoyle, before waving her hand in front of its puffy eyes.

"I knew it! I knew statues live too!" She said victoriously as the Gargoyle blinked grumpily.

"I was not sure either. It is said that most of them stay still when you simply pass them by, but when they feel that someone is in danger they jump into action to help," said Remus.

The three of them sat down with their backs against the cold wall.

"You have to tell Dumbledore what Sabrina did to you, Sev. This is the second time she's almost killed you!" Lily advised.

"I don't think he will believe me without any concrete evidence. Besides, I'm not even sure it was her."

"You don't think it was James, do you?" Remus asked.

"He was rather distant in the past few days. Maybe he was setting up something bigger all this time."

"Oh! It better not! If it was him, I swear I'll make him swallow a whole Bludger!" Lily said, clenching her fist and probably imagining she was crushing a miniature James.

Remus and Severus looked at each other in surprise.

Soon they heard Madam Hooch's hurried footsteps. She was holding something long in her arms, which was writhing to free itself, and was covered in a thin blanket, tied up with a rope.

"Evans. Lupin. The rest of your classmates are waiting for you in the Great Hall."

Lily and Remus threw Severus one last apologetic glance before walking away.

"Cherry tart," said the professor.

Dumbledore had some strange tastes in passwords because the statue suddenly moved apart and the wall behind it split into two.

Severus followed his professor on the spiral steps that were moving slowly upward. He heard the wall close behind them as the stairs were advancing in circles. The stairs stopped in front of a well-polished door with a gold handle in the shape of a griffin's head.

Madam Hooch opened the door forcefully, as if she was owning that place.

It was an office as eccentric as Professor Tenebris', but nowhere nearly as depressing as hers.

It was a large, circular room with a warm, bright atmosphere. Lots of shiny silver trinkets were arranged on the shelves. Some were swaying gently on their small feet, others were puffing out friendly, tiny clouds.

On the walls were portraits of former Hogwarts Headmasters who were frowning at Madam Hooch, unhappy with the way she burst in or with the way she was tapping the floor with her sole, gradually losing her patience since Dumbledore was not there just yet.

The desk was wide and had claw-shaped legs. Behind it, Severus noticed the Magic Sorting Hat, as ragged as at the Reception Banquet, but now inert, glued to life. On a high stand by the door stood a large, majestic bird. It had fire-like feathers and a beautiful, wavy beak. When it felt Severus' gaze, the bird's clear and shiny black eyes looked back at him, slowly lowering its head to one side.

Madame Hooch was tapping her foot faster and faster. Severus thought it would not be long before she will form a hole, when the office door opened gently, and Dumbledore, with his long, silver hair bouncing on his shoulders, entered, walking backwards. He was carrying a huge, white Earth globe with gold-colored continents.

"Ah, Rolanda, my dear, so glad to see you."

Severus heard one of the former headmasters snort, showing that he did not share Dumbledore's opinion at all.

The Headmaster placed the globe next to his desk. He touched it three times with the tip of his wand. Several black spots appeared on each continent. Below them Severus could read indications such as _'The MACUSA Headquarters'_ on the edge of North America or _'The Transylvanian Dragon Natural Reserve'_, which was located right next to _'The National Vampire Committee'_.

"What a bargain, isn't it?" Dumbledore said chuckling, touching the spot for the Dragon Reserve. At once, bursting up and growing, as if it were shown on TV, started to develop the animated image of dragons blowing flames at some people who were avoiding them by using huge shields made of enchanted metal. The people were trying to feed the dragons considerable pieces of raw meat.

"Headmaster," Madam Hooch made her presence be acknowledged once more.

Dumbledore and Severus both turned from the globe toward her, and Madam Hooch placed the rebellious, tightly-packed broom on the large desk.

The Headmaster sat down slowly in his tall chair, adjusting his crescent-shaped glasses over his long nose.

"Cursed, cursed from fabrication," he said, not even having to undo the broomstick, but just waving his wand lightly over it.

"Then someone must have replaced Mr. Snape's broomstick with this one," said Madame Hooch, frowning.

"Hm, is that so?" Dumbledore asked for his opinion, too.

Severus didn't want to admit with Madam Hooch as witness, that to him all broomsticks looked exactly the same. It would have sounded aberrant to her ears. But that was exactly what made him such an easy target for whoever had replaced his broomstick. Whoever that person was, they must have known he couldn't tell them apart.

"Albus, the boy was about to crush into pieces! Sabotaging someone's flight is extremely serious! Anyone with such a crazy idea for a prank should be expelled immediately!" Madam Hooch used her noisy voice, which she was usually applying on her more bold and hard to control students.

"I can't contradict you there, Rolanda. But you have to understand that my hands are tied until true evidence is brought to light. We wouldn't want to accuse someone unjustifiably."

"Right... Snape, quick! Do you have anyone in mind?"

Severus felt really small in the silence of the adults who were waiting for him to say something for the first time since he had entered the circular and beautifully-decorated office.

Madam Hooch began tapping impatiently with her fingers on the surface of the director's desk, promptly expecting some names from him. But Dumbledore noticed Severus' uneasiness because he said:

"Thank you for your intervention, Rolanda. As usual, your insight has made sure every student is safe and sound, but I think I'll take Mr. Snape from here now on."

Madame Hooch looked at Dumbledore in protest, but agreed to leave them alone behind the polished door, which she closed a little more smoothly this time.

"Lemon drops, Severus?" Dumbledore offered, lifting the small bowl from the edge of the desk.

Surprised enough that the Headmaster knew his first name, Severus accepted the candy, although mostly out of politeness.

"And how did you find your first weeks here, at Hogwarts?"

"They were ... interesting, sir," Severus said, a little confused.

Dumbledore clasped his hands on the table, sustaining his chin on them. He looked up at the chandelier that was scattering white spots of light throughout the room.

"You also made new friends, I hope to hear."

"Friends, but also enemies," Severus admitted slowly, more to himself.

But Dumbledore heard him.

"It is true that the line between friendship and enmity can be extremely thin at times," he said, looking at the clouds filling the angry autumn sky through the round-framed glass of the many windows. "But do you know what the most charming part of friendship is, Severus? You never know where from to expect to see it bloom."

The beautiful bird nodded softly to Dumbledore.

The rebel broom was still on the desk. Dumbledore untied it with some fine movements of his long fingers. Before having the chance of taking off, most predictably towards one of the shelves with the many fragile trinkets, Dumbledore immobilized it with an incantation that Severus didn't know.

"But I'd like you to come to me if you ever run into such problems again."

Severus hesitated a little, but nodded slowly.

He wondered if he should mention Sabrina. After all, Dumbledore was an individual with far more important occupations than clearing up a silly conflict between 11-year-olds.

Severus had learned as a young child how to solve all his problems without the help of either of his parents. It had always been this way. He couldn't depend on adults. But something of Dumbledore's speech was still resonating in his mind: _'The line between friendship and enmity can be extremely thin.'_

XXX

James's apparent oath of silence was over. He didn't let Severus get away cheap after the Flying Class incident. James was constantly pretending to simply lose his balance and collapse on the carpet.

But Severus was ignoring him. He was scratching Crookshanks' fluffy back.

Crookshanks had become their new roommate after Courtney Buttermier had finally snapped and Lily had to get him out of the girls' bedroom, at least until the other Gryffindor girl would calm down, or until Madam Pomfrey would find her a stronger antiallergenic.

But it was right on cue. Crookshanks, although not exactly fit, had a very fine hearing and a seventh sense that was making him hiss and puff up his fur every time he didn't like someone, like when James called him a _stinking sack of fleas_. Crookshanks would warn him in case anyone tried to attack him again while sleeping.

The cat's ears perked up as Peter opened the door. He had been the last one to come to bed all week. As usual, he was also the last one to get out of bed in the morning and to go to Breakfast.

Severus told Remus to go without him because he couldn't find his Transfiguration homework. Remus believed him.

It didn't take long for a small, chubby hand to come out through the curtains of the bed next to the other wall. The hand touched the nightstand, but as it couldn't find the object that would normally have been there, Peter stuck his head out as well.

He remained stunned when he took into account Severus sitting in a chair pulled up next to his bed, legs crossed and holding the Gryffindor Quidditch fan cap between his fingers.

"Challenging, well, I suppose you really did find a more ... _cool_ haircut, after all."

Severus was glaring at the green algae that had grown directly from Peter Pettigrew's scalp.

Peter, after coming out of his temporal state of shock, began to shake frantically on the blankets.

"Severus! I swear! It was Sabrina, she made me do it!"

The furrows on Severus' forehead were deep enough to prove how much he believed in the validity of that excuse.

"Pretty clever though. You were keeping an eye on me, weren't you? You wanted to know my every move. Shall I understand you changed my broomstick, too, while Sicattio was distracting me?"

"It was her idea! I swear! It was her broomstick! She ordered it from a shop in Knockturn Ally! She f-f-forced me to!"

"Ah, yes? And how did she do that, if I'm allowed to ask?"

Peter seemed to have ran out of words.

Severus threw him one last disgusted look before letting the Gryffindor supporter cap fall on Peter's bed.

Severus got down the stairs to the Great Hall. This time around, he wanted to inform Lily and Remus about what was going on. There were already too many enemies!

* * *

**AN/ Yay! 10 Chapters done, 10 more to go! I hope you all liked it this far.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter XI

-The Phantom of the Dungeon-

It was hard for Severus to believe that only two months ago the only inconveniences he was trying to avoid were his father's angry voice and Lily's sister's annoying voice.

More recently, not only did he have to look out for Sabrina, but for Peter as well. After learning of the association between his Gryffindor mate and the Slytherin girl, Remus had become distant from Peter, while Lily was convinced to at least consider the possibility that Sabrina had forced him to do what he did.

However, neither Remus nor Severus bothered to inform Sirius and James about his betrayal. Remus because he didn't want to upset them, knowing that they both hated Slytherins, and Severus because he didn't care about either of them. Anyway, James would have never believed the accusations about Peter if he were to hear them from Severus. The jinx of the sea algae hair that had retaliated against Pettigrew the night he had targeted Severus in his sleep, had soon been cured by Madame Pomfrey, so he didn't even had any definite proof against him anymore.

XXX

Ever since he almost met his own doom, Severus had practically developed an obsession with searching and finding a spell for levitation of living things, although Patricia had offered to give him some private flying lessons immediately after the rumor of the cursed broomstick incident had spread like a plague in the school.

Severus spent hours in the library. He collected notes on torn pieces of parchment, which he then crammed into the pages of his textbooks. But Professor Flitwich was right. No wizard had ever managed to invent a charm to lift his fellows into the air.

The creator of the _Wingardium Leviosa _charm himself, Jarleth Hobart, had failed. In 1544 Hobart had invited a great number of wizards and witches to watch him take flight. He had climbed onto the top of the local church, enchanted his charm, and at first it seemed enough to support him above, but when the crowd below asked him to move, Hobart realized that only his clothes were levitating and he fell naked to the ground, humiliating himself in front of everyone.

Hobart had never been able to fully fulfill his dream. After him there a few more sorcerers who had tried to recreate his spell, including a witch who was passionate about cats and wanted her furry friends to float around the house for some reason. She, too, had given up, realizing that all she had to do was put the cats in baskets and so create their own little private jets.

Severus didn't know what his chances were if those experienced adults had failed, but he knew he wouldn't drop it so easily.

XXX

Lily had persuaded Severus into joining the children of the decorating committee. The pumpkins raised by Hagrid were so big that Lily could fit in them after they managed to get all the contents out.

Back in Cokeworth, Halloween has always been Lily's favorite holiday. For her, it was a night of challenges. Once she had bet on a bag of candy with a gang of boys from her elementary school that she can enter old Winston's mansion which was said to be haunted. Lily hadn't come across any ghosts, only a very angry old Winston in drawers, who turned out to be very much still alive, just very withdrawn and with an overly sensitive hearing.

But Severus still couldn't bear to see her upset when she found out that no one at Hogwarts was dressing up as lions or scarecrows or walking from house to house to ask people for candy. He tried to improve her mood by telling her about the charm of the great Halloween feast that took place every year in the Great Hall.

And rightly so, the pumpkins they had prepared were just a small piece of decor among all sorts of colorful garlands and wonderful lanterns that were shining warmly and floating above their heads. Live bats were hanging from the ceiling, sometimes flying through groups of students and making some little girls scream and cover up their hair (just like Petunia on their visit to Diagon Ally).

But the cuisine delivered in golden platters was by far the favorite part of most students. In addition to pumpkin pies and fruit tarts cooked in such a way that the strawberry or cherry syrup was dripping on the top to look like blood, Lily had also discovered the lollipops, toffees, caramelized apples and chocolate bars she used to receive back in the Muggle World.

Only that the spider-shaped candies were running away on their little legs, and some of the jellies were turning people's skin phosphorescent. Lily laughed when something like this happened to Remus' skin color while she was trying to feed a baked potato to a bat that had landed on their table.

The older students stayed up late that night, exchanging spooky stories.

"And then, just as little Timmy went to bed hoping to finally get some comfort under the protection of his warm blankets, he sniffed something, a smell he knew far too well ... vanilla essence! And just before he could do anything about it, the Pudding Blob came out from under the bed, swallowed little Timmy in one gulp, and said with a wicked laugh, _'Now you know what it's like!'_"

"Seriously Big D? The Pudding Blop? That's the best you could come up with, really?" Akina asked, browned off.

James also had his own group of students gathered around him on the carpet. He was holding his bright wand in front of his face like a lantern. He was able to create a bit of a creepy effect this way, mainly due to the fact that all the candles in the Common Room had been blown out.

Severus was listening to him from the corner of the couch where he sat alone, since he had nothing better to do anyway. But Lily and Remus sat closer to James, listening intently as they munched on the candy they had stuffed into their pockets before leaving the Great Hall.

"And no one had heard of them ever since ..."

Severus let out an unimpressed muffled sound.

"Oh, yeah, think you could do better, Snivellus?"

"Right. How about _The Night of the Shampoo Monster Attack_?" Sirius joked.

James snorted with a laugh that was more mischievous than amused, until Lily hit the back of his neck with a still-wrapped toffee.

"Sev's right. Werewolves? How predictable! Even Darren's story was scarier."

"Yeah? Well, no one asked you, Evans!" James replied, picking up the candy from the floor, unwrapping it and throwing it straight into his mouth.

"Well ... werewolves aren't that supernatural," Remus said, shyly.

James, chewing sulkily, rolled his eyes before lighting up his wand again.

"Okay, then this one's going to make you faint with fear for sure," James said, looking exclusively at Severus, 'THE LEGEND OF THE PHANTOM OF THE DUNGEON!'

James's audience was unresponsive.

"Uh, you mean the Bloody Baron?" Lily asked, and Sirius looked from her to James, signaling that he was having the exact same question in mind.

"What? No! You're telling me you haven't heard at all? Seriously? None of you?"

"Uh, I think my grandpa once told me about-" Remus suddenly remembered.

"Exactly!" James cut him short. "It was in their time! My grandmother told me everything! She was right there when it happened!"

That seemed to make his story more appealing because Lily, Remus, and Sirius brought their heads closer to him. But Severus imagined Grandma Potter as a more plump and wrinkled James in a floral dress. She was probably just as credible as he was.

"Every Halloween night is said to bring something new and unexpected here at Hogwarts ..." James resumed his narrative and exciting voice, "but that night, something even more out of the ordinary happened. It was October, year 1913. The Great Hall was decorated just like today, with bats flying around just like today, sweets as good as today and children having fun just like- "

"Okay, we got the picture!" Lily cut in.

James frowned at her.

"Anyway, not all children were so happy. Little Annabel Wilfred was in her first year. She was scared of almost anything, but Halloween nights were terrifying her the most. The other children were laughing at her. They were calling her _Crying Bell_." (Of course, leave it up to James to invent a story about children receiving upsetting nicknames ...)"And when little Billy Peterson stuck some cotton candy in her hair, little Annabel ran away in tears. The halls were deserted, but she wanted to be sure no one would see her like that. So she ran to the least popular place in the school ... THE DUNGEONS!

Little Annabel found an old storage room. She crouched down next to some wooden locker cabinets. Sitting like that and whimpering, she could barely hear when one of the cabinets began squeaking. Annabel sat and listened petrified as a new sound was added between the narrow walls - a whispered, icy voice, but which to Annabel started to sound more and more soothing, even alluring.

The voice told her to get closer, making one of the cabinet handles come out of its hole, so she will know where to find it. Annabel approached the cabinet. She grabbed the handle and ... pulled!" (Here James raised his hands menacingly).

"Annabel didn't even know what got into her. In a few moments, the whole room got socked in thick, black mist and she could feel it running directly through her chest. She expected herself to scream, but she didn't scream.

When one of the teachers finally found her, Annabel's face was frozen and she was shaking from all edges. When he saw her like that, Billy Peterson laughed even harder. But poor Billy didn't know he had just signed up his death sentence. The next morning, he was found dead in his own bed! His face looked as white as Annabel's when she was found in the storage room. No one could ever know for sure what happened to him.

Some say that little Annabel found her courage that night, that she decided to take her revenge, that she convinced whatever was in that locker to kill him, others say that Annabel finished him of all by herself, even just so that everyone would believe the story of what she had seen.

Little later on, a few other students had been found in the hallways shivering with horror and they couldn't find their words to say what happened to them, in fact they didn't even seem to remember or to want to remember at all. Each was attacked only when they were all by themselves, defenseless.

No one ever came near Annabel Wilfred anymore. Who still had the courage to stand by her side anyway - a little girl who had always been the only one nice to her… Big mistake!

In a few days, she was found at the edge of the Forbidden Forest with frozen, dead eyes just like Billy's. The children were terrified, and Annabel was getting colder and harder to move with each passing second.

Only one more time did she scream in fear again. When in the middle of the main hall, a huge, black whirlwind was swirling all around her. Her hair was covering up her face and her eyes had become so washed out that they looked like big, white spots.

Several teachers got closer, casting all sort of spells at the whirlwind, but the whirlwind seemed to grow larger as they intervened.

And Annabel let out one last heartbreaking scream that echoed to the farthest tower in the castle, just as the Headmaster from back then, Dippet, aimed his Patronus - a huge dragon that frightened the wraith, but for little Annabel, it had been too late.

She fell dead to the ground! The whole hall was covered in mist, and my grandmother was sure she had seen two big, purple eyes looking from student to student. They spun a little more before disappearing into a foggy cloud. Nobody had heard anything about it since then, but it had remained in the students' memory as ... The PHANTOM OF THE DUNGEON!"

James wrapped his story up with a satisfied smile at the lime-white faces of his audience. Lily got back to her senses first.

"Uh, well, it was ... acceptable."

"Acceptable?!" James said unhappily.

"I heard spookier. And besides, it's obvious you invented it."

"Lily is right. Why would a grandmother tell such a story to a little boy?"

"LITTLE BOY?! Well, maybe Grandma knows I can handle it! What's the matter, Snivy? Does yours only tell you stories about fluffy bunnies and rainbows because she knows you wouldn't resist otherwise?"

Severus didn't like any of his grandmothers, but fluffy bunnies and rainbows stories weren't the reason.

"Uh, my grandpa told me, too ..." Remus whispered.

Out them all, he seemed the most affected by James' Halloween story.

"Well, they must have gone to Hogwarts together, then. Ask him! He will tell you that little Annabel was real!"

"That doesn't mean the rest of the story was also," Severus pointed out.

Lily nodded approvingly.

"Oh, yeah? Okay, then be my guests! Come with me right now down to the storage room in the Dungeons!"

Lily and Severus exchanged glances.

"If you don't believe me, it shouldn't be a problem, should it? Unless of course... you're scared ..." James implied with a devious smirk.

"Oh, you wish, Potter! I'm in!" Lily proclaimed with determination.

"Lily, I don't think that's a good idea. It's already very late and-"

"Aww, little Snivy scared?"

"Maybe not of your imaginary monsters, Potter! But Pringle has increased security on the Dungeons' halls in case you forgot!"

"Pfft, he's not the one you should worry about. I know how to take care of him. We'll meet here after everyone else goes to bed. If you don't change your mind in the meantime, of course."

"In your dreams, maybe!" Lily replied.

James grinned at her in a way similar to Crookshanks when he was hunting little birds in the courtyard, and he hurried up the stairs to the bedroom. Sirius followed him, looking a little worried.

"You're not actually going after him, are you?" Remus asked.

Severus said nothing but looked at Lily for an answer.

"Don't worry. James is all bark, no bite! And anyway, what can be so scary about a storage room?"

"I know you two don't swallow anything he says, but my grandfather has heard about the Phantom as well."

"And ... did your grandfather tell you anything about huge whirlwinds and dead children?" Severus wanted to be sure.

"Well ... no. But maybe it's like you said it, Sev. Maybe he just didn't want to frighten me."

There was a sharp thunderclap-like sound followed by a long and powerful echo.

Severus and Remus winced, but Lily went lightly and lifted Crookshanks into her arms. He had just knocked down a metal bowl that had hit the rocky floor hard, releasing a bunch of chocolate spiders that were now roaming all over the room.

Crookshanks jerked and slipped out of Lily's grab, dashing after one of the spiders that had climbed onto the furniture.

"Evans! I told you not to let him on the couch!"

"Sorry, Olivia."

The Prefect girl paid her one more authoritarian glance before heading upstairs with her famous _'I got no time for your nonsense!_' flair.

It didn't take long for the rest of the students to leave the Common Room. Remus, Lily, and Severus have taken gathering all the chocolate spiders as an excuse to stay behind.

"So what's a Patronus?" Lily asked interested as she pushed one of the armchairs aside.

"It's a charm that protects people from Dementors and which they can use to send verbal messages. It takes the form of a silver animal that differs from individual to individual and it only appears when the caster has happy thoughts," Remus explained, reaching for a spider hidden into a crack in the wall.

"Oh, how cool! I wonder what animal mine could be," Lily said, snatching a spider all covered in dust bunnies from under the armchair.

"So you think the Phantom of the Dungeons could be some kind of Dementor?" Severus asked, while he was keeping Crookshanks busy, swinging his striped tie in front of the feline's engaged eyes.

"_Kind of_, well said. A figure all in black, terror, feeling of frost... Sounds like a Dementor to me, but I can't explain the whirlwind or the alluring whisper."

"I can," Lily said. "James colored the story. Everyone does this on Halloween."

Speaking of the wolf ...

"Are you ready?" James reappeared down the stairs.

He had a thin silver-gray blanket in his hand, which Sirius was frowning at.

"An invisible cloak?" Remus said in astonishment as he approached James.

"With this we won't have to worry about Pringle anymore" James declared, throwing the cloak over his shoulders.

Lily watched in amazement as all that was left of James was a messy-haired head floating into the air.

Severus had heard a little something about invisible cloaks. In the past, they were used only by Aurors, wizards trained to defeat those who were using black magic to commit crimes. It was a good way to take the wizards of the darkness by surprise, but in the meantime they had almost decreased to simple pranking items along with Dung Bombs and Fanged Frisbees.

"I still think this is an idiotic idea," Remus said morally as Lily and Severus were about to step through the hole from behind the portrait.

"That's the charm of Halloween, Remy," Lily informed him as Severus handed Crooksnaks to him.

Remus frowned at the cat, as if waiting for him to say as well something about how nitwitted they were. In truth, Severus knew Remus was right, but he couldn't leave Lily alone in her festive madness, especially not in the company of someone like James Potter.

Sirius stayed behind with Remus because there was room for only three people under James' cloak, and he was the tallest of them all. And Peter went to bed early that night after eating far too much pumpkin pie, so Severus doubted he would cause them any trouble.

The Fat Lady didn't seem too surprised when three invisible children came out through the opening behind her painting. Severus wondered whether the characters in magical portraits could see through enchanted cloaks, or whether James had a routine in sneaking out like this.

They only came across the Hogwarts caretaker when they reached the first floor. Fortunately, he was preoccupied studying the bent corner of an upholstery representing a medieval feast in which almost everyone was wearing folded collars like Sir Nicolas'. Pringle thought something was hiding behind the tapestry because he pulled it halfway aside, putting it back in disappointment when he found nothing but an empty wall.

After descending the slippery stairs to the Dungeons, they got much farther from where Patricia had discovered the narrow passage leading to Salazar Slytherin's journal. It was clear enough that they were nearing the rooms of those in his House, when Lucius Malfoy, arm in arm with a girl with a shiny face and hair of a slightly more golden shade of blond than his own, passed them by, giggling. Malfoy was probably abusing his Prefect's badge to benefit of customized curfew rules.

James made Severus and Lily follow him down a very small corridor. The walls were made up of bricks with edges blackened from moisture. Every here and there was a spider web. As James thought there was no need for the cloak any longer, Severus could see Lily admiring those spider webs or as she used to call them - E_co-friendly Halloween decorations_.

James seemed to really know his way and he stopped in front of a shabby door barricaded by planks and rusty nails. Certainly no one had been around in decades. But if that door was really hiding something odious, then it should have been guarded by at least a few defensive spells. Unless Headmaster Dippet thought no one would ever be drawn to this small and musty dead end anyway.

As the securing planks were about as old as the door, James could pull them off very easily (or maybe his morning lifting exercises were finally working out).

All three of them lit up their wands. The room had a single lantern that was hanging in a corner and had a large portion of broken glass. There were even more spider webs than on the corridor, but unlike those, these were completely deserted. Even the spiders had abandoned the place years ago.

For a storage room, the place was quite spacious so that their footsteps were leaving deep prints in the thick layer of dust deposited on the floor. Just like in Grandma-Potter's story, dozens of small wooden lockers were grouped on each side and reaching to the low ceiling. That made Severus a little nervous.

"Alright, Potter, you got what you wanted! Now we should go back until-"

"Not so fast, Snivellus. If you keep saying you're not afraid, then you certainly don't mind advancing the research a bit, hm, whatcha say?"

Lily didn't wait for another impetus before pulling on one of the rounded handles. It didn't open; it just made the whole cabinet structure sway with a loud creak.

"Alohomora!" Lily shouted, pointing her wand at the lock.

There was a small click, and Lily opened the locker easily, but she frowned in displeasure when all she found inside was a small pile of yellowed papers. James used the same charm. But no matter how many lockers they were pulling open, neither James nor Lily got across anything but piles of used sheets of paper.

Severus was ready to tell James what he thought of his nonsense, but instead he found himself wrapping his arms in his school robe. It was for the first time that the chill characteristic to the Dungeons actually bothered him. It seemed it was getting colder and colder, and Lily and James were both too busy to notice.

Then, as something that made even his blood freeze in his body, Severus heard a strange whisper pass him by. It sounded like a relaxing breeze, as if he had brought a seashell close to his ear. Maybe it was just in his imagination.

The second time, the breeze seemed warmer. It removed the thrill that had overwhelmed him before. He turned to the row of lockers next to the wall opposite the one where Lily and James were searching. His eyes fell instantly on the only locker that was missing its handle.

"No way! Snivy found it!" James noticed, dashing to the locker and nonchalantly pushing Severus out of his way.

James pulled hard on the edge of the handle-less locker. It wasn't locked, just stuck. Lily approached, too, sticking the tip of her wand into the hole in the middle just as she had seen people in movies place amulets or coins to open Heavens know what pyramid or mystical temple. That didn't work either, so she started pulling the locker alongside James.

"Satisfied now, Potter?" Severus was not at all content that his voice did not have the intensity or stability he was opting for. "Your little ghost hunt has a dead end, who would have thought? Now come on!"

Severus lifted the invisible cloak from where James had abandoned it. James gave him a sideways glance.

"I knew you wouldn't resist."

"Come on, Sev! Help me show him he's wrong, that there's no Phantom of the Dungeon, and then we can go! " Lily said, forcing herself out while pulling with all might.

Severus was somewhat relieved that Lily wasn't really trying to unleash an evil spirit through the school, that she was just making fun of James. He joined the other two Gryffindors. As soon as they became three pairs of hands, the locker opened immediately.

And what was inside ... absolutely nothing.

"Ha!" Lily said victoriously.

James let out an annoyed huff.

"Big deal! Maybe it just turned itself invisible when it heard us!"

"The only ones who should be invisible right now its us," Severus said, firmly, tossing the enchanted cloak to James. "And besides, your story said something about deep, dark mist. Do you see anything like that, or you invent new details along the way?"

Severus realized that his banter had more importantly than upsetting James, the role of calming himself down. For a moment there he had almost believed in his spooky story. Maybe it was just the Halloween spirit Lily was talking about every year.

As they crossed the hallway back, all three got startled as two floating bodies intersected their path. They were coming from a corridor lit in a dark shade of blue and along which a strange sound was echoing. It was like scratching on a blackboard (something they were all too familiar with thanks to Professor's Tenebris long, black-painted manicure).

The first ghost was the Bloody Baron. He was making amends to hide the huge bloodstain on his chest in an old-fashioned robe. The second was none other than Peeves, the poltergeist.

Peeves was a particularly annoying guy who loved to make fun of anyone who ever got into his way. Mr. Pringle hated him with all his heart. He was spending a great deal of hours trying to fix up the disasters Peeves was causing on a daily basis, such as flooding all the toilets in the boys' lavatory on the fifth floor, or releasing all the dragonflies professor McGonagall was keeping for her class so they could be transfigured into silver keys.

"What an excuse of a friend you are, Berry. Nick's going to be upset that you leave him this early!"

The Baron ignored Peeves, but on his emaciated face, Severus could make out some troubled eyes this time around, not just lifeless.

When they returned to the Gryffindor Tower, Sirius was already snoring on the couch, and Remus was walking in circles, stressed out. He was relieved to learn from Lily that there was no Phantom of the Dungeons, although he listened with fascination as how at least the decor of the storage room matched the one described in James' grandmother's story.

That wasn't the only thing that matched the story, but Severus preferred to keep the rest of the account to himself, hoping it would be easier to forget this way.

* * *

**AN\ I know it's rather awkward that the title of the entire fanfiction only comes now into focus, when the story is halfway through. Anyway, got to be honest, the tale James had told was initially supposed to be way more kid friendly, but then I realized it didn't have the right impact. So I tried to make it creepier and creepier. In the end it got disturbing enough to make me worry about myself, so I'd say it worked pretty well.**


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